The Noble Heart II
by Chitose Fama
Summary: Heartless have ravaged Roren's world, but when Sora arrives to save the day the people and places he finds are not what he remembers. A whole new cast of mysterious characters play into this story full of twists, action, and heartbreak.
1. Prologue

**Hello readers! Thanks for clicking your way to my story, I hope you enjoy it. This is the sequal to the first fanfiction that I wrote, called (obviously) The Noble Heart. Once agian the main OC is one that I use in my comics, and I am using this fanfic to help me write about him. Funny thing is, I planned the NHII before the first story, and I've got SO many plans for this story. Check my profile for links to pictures of the characters (once I get them up...). Please review, or not, or whatever. I hope you like it! **

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**Prologue**

The sun was out, but the air was defiantly cold. Halvi walked along the edge of a great forest, a bundle of bags in her arms and a distant look on her youthful face. Her long pale blond hair rippled out behind her as she stepped lightly over the small rocks and roots on her path. She had traveled this same road so many times in the last few years that she probably knew every turn, dip and rise on it by heart. She didn't even have to look to know where she was going.

Her mind wandered. Many uneasy thoughts had been plaguing her lately, but unfortunatly most of her problems were out of her control. Her greatest concern was for one person in particular: a young soldier who appeared much older than he really was, and whose life was destined for trials and hardship. He was a hero to everyone in the country, the man who began the end of the war, but to Halvi he was something completely different.

Roren Agnellus, former captain of the 5th division of the southern Nelvin army, was the chosen bearer of the power of The Noble Heart. It was a great force for light that drew its strength from compassion, and the sorrow of one who loves deeply. Four years earlier Halvi had been entrusted with the responsibility of watching over Roren, should his power ever be used. King Mickey had told her to call if there was any trouble, but so far Halvi had chosen to be on her own.

Though there seemed to be no end of trouble for Roren, Halvi had decided that they were issues that even The King could not resolve. They were problems of the heart, and of the world as a whole: war, death, betrayal and choice. Roren had faced the worst of all of them over the last few years, and their effect on him was painfully evident.

But now things were different. The problems that Halvi once thought she could handle had quickly gone out of her control. The heartless were threatening to destroy the very life of this world, and as she looked to the horizon all she could see were omens of danger. She had finaly called for help, and she could only hope that it would come in time.

Halvi threw these thoughts to the back of her mind. She had spotted something farther up ahead of her that required her attention. A black mass was weaving in and out of the trees off to her side, slipping through the leafy darkness around the forest floor. Through the shade Halvi could just make out its form. It was little more than a shapeless mass of darkness, a rolling puddle of black emptiness.

Her gaze was impassive. She felt no fear of the creature, though it was likely the most formidable heartless that this world would ever know. As she watched it, the formless creature slithered out of the trees and out onto the grass. It slunk over her path, moving like a shallow wave across a puddle. She watched it, coldly urging it on with repulsing thoughts. The heartless hardly slowed, but continued its confident rolling over the worn path, and then up over a small rise onto an open felid.

Halvi shifted the bags she carried. To the heartless she was invisible, and all of them ignored her, which she supposed was a good thing. But for once she wondered what it would have been like to be recognized by such a creature, to have the simple quality that they were seeking.

_They terrify people_, she thought to herself. _Why would I want to feel that? I should just be glad that they can't hurt me._

The bright sun bore down through the cold air as Halvi stared after the traveling creature. Only when it became little more than a black smudge in the distance did she break her gaze from it. She sighed and her fingers tightened on the bags. She looked up to the grey sky, her eyes searching back and forth helplessly. Nothing.

She swallowed. "Please hurry," she whispered. "Sora, we need you here. Hurry."


	2. Too Much Has Changed

**1**

**Too Much Has Changed**

Countless stars flew by the windows. Bright beams of light and energy raced back and forth around the edges of the ship. Up ahead great red clouds colored the distance. And everywhere in between was pure black darkness.

Sora sat in the passenger's seat of the gummi ship, his feet kicked up on the dashboard, and his hands behind his head. His bright eyes were focused on the pilot, his close friend Riku, and he was almost oblivious to the action going on outside. He had been chattering on for almost a half-hour, but for the most part Riku had to ignore him because flying the gummi ship required all of his concentration.

"How are you supposed to shoot and steer at the same time?" Riku hissed and jerked the control stick sharply to the right to slide the ship just by a huge meteor.

Sora's endless chain of words was broken by this comment, and he sat up. "Don't worry about shooting as much as flying," he said. "If you want to you can just keep your finger held down on the trigger the whole time, so that way you won't have to worry about when to fire."

"You're not helping! Why do I have to do this? You're the one who always flies these things."

Sora laughed, a triumphant tone in his voice. "I am the master gummi-ship flyer! You are the student, and you shall obey your master!"

Riku grunted, not amused. Sora frowned at him, and pretended to look extremely disappointed.

"C'mon that was funny," he goaded. Riku kept his mouth tightly shut, his icy blue eyes fixed tensely on the enemy ships all around them. He seemed stressed out. Sora rolled his eyes. "Roren would have thought it was funny."

"Well, then it's just _great_ that we're going to see him. But you can't tell your jokes if we get blown up, so I really think you should drive!"

Sora shook his head. "The King said you needed to practice! This is an easy route, you're doing fine."

Riku sighed angrily and focused on flying the odd-looking space ship. A second later a loud crash sounded through the cockpit as the ship was hit by enemy guns. The whole vessel shuttered from the impact, and Riku gripped the controls tighter. His knuckles were white as he jerked the ship into a sudden barrel roll around a stream of lasers, and he appeared to be holding his breath. He straightened the ship out, and after a moment Sora picked up his line of conversation from where it had been interrupted.

"So anyway, like I was saying. Roren showed me this really awesome spinning attack, and he just did it so fast! It was amazing. I can't wait to show him the drive forms, it'll blow his mind!" Sora leaned back in his seat and smiled to himself, imaging his friend's reaction to the magical clothes. "He doesn't even know we're coming. He's gonna be so surprised!"

Just ahead Riku could see what looked like open space, an area free of heartless ships and space junk. He sped up to reach it faster and a moment later the ship soared out into the empty expanse of darkness. Riku dimmed the thrusters to slow the ship, and then dropped his hands from the controls. He turned to Sora and glared.

"You did great," Sora said in a small voice. "Look, our shields are at %15 still. That's good."

"You could have helped a little," Riku muttered. "And, no, talking at me is not helping."

"Sorry."

Riku sighed. "Whatever. We must be close now right?"

Sora pointed to a map on the central console. "That's us," he put his finger on a small blue dot on the screen. "And that's the planet." His finger slid up to another dot on the map near the far corner. "So yeah, we're getting close."

"Will you drive now?"

"Fine, but I'll have to be sloppy so that The King still thinks it's you flying."

"Oh, thanks, I thought you said I was doing good," Riku said and shoved Sora on the shoulder, meaning for the push to be joking and light, but Sora nearly fell out of his seat. They both laughed. Sora reached out and took the controls, making all of his movements dramatic and strangely mocking.

For awhile neither of them said anything. Riku watched the elegant gummi ship that flew along side of them as it dipped and spun like a playful bird. The King really knew how to fly, that was for sure.

It had been King Mickey who had told Riku and Sora that they needed to go to Roren's world, a place called _Nelvis_. Sora had been there once before, many years ago when he had just become the keyblade master. Apparently Roren was a soldier at the time, and Sora, Donald and Goofy had met him on a battle field. The King said that the heartless in Nelvis were particularly strong, because of the war that was going on. Riku wasn't really sure what to expect from the place, but from what Sora had said, Roren at least was a really great guy.

Now that he thought about it, Riku realized that Sora probably had a lot of good friends that he didn't even know about. It almost made him feel a little envious, but he quickly cast the thought away. Jealously was what got him into so much trouble when he was younger; it was just one more of the foul emotions that he had given into when he accepted the darkness. He was determined never to go back to that state now that he was free from it. Besides, he reminded himself that Sora had traveled over countless worlds looking for him. They were best friends, and if that didn't prove it, not much else would.

"So, do you know why The King called us out here?" Riku asked to break the silence.

Sora shrugged. "There's this girl…I can't remember her name. I only met her once, but The King said she needed some help. It has something to do with these really bad heartless that are running around making a mess." His eyes darkened a little as he thought a minute. "I think something's up with Roren too, but they didn't say anything about that."

"When was the last time you saw Roren, anyway?"

"Man, it's been a while. Years," Sora tilted his head back, relaxing his grip on the controls. "I hope not too much has changed. I know the war is over, that's why The King wouldn't let me go back earlier. He said the war was getting really bad, and that it was dangerous there. I was too busy to go anyway, what with The Organization and all."

Riku turned and stared out the window again. On the map the dot that represented their ship was drawing ever closer to the planet. Riku considered the vast darkness of space, and thought longingly of the Destiny Islands. He wanted to be on safe ground again, but it sounded to him like the only thing he and Sora were headed for was trouble.

_______

"The first thing we should do is go talk to Halvi," The King said.

The large rat jumped down from the cockpit of his gummi ship, landing expertly on the yellowed grass. Riku, Sora and King Mickey had parked their ships in a wide clearing, where there were trees and bushes all around. Here the ships would be well-hidden from heartless, as well as from unknowing civilians who happened to pass by. Above them the sun was hanging high in the sky, sending waves of heat down into the open area. Riku guessed that the heat was what made the grass so yellow.

"Halvi! That's right!" Sora smacked his forehead. "Her name was Halvi. I can't believe I forgot."

"Who is she?" Riku asked.

"Halvi is the one I put in charge of watching The Noble Heart," The King explained. Riku cast him a confused look. "Oh, right. You don't know about that," the mouse looked apologetic. "Halvi can explain it better than I can. Let's go."

The King led the boys through the forest, and soon enough they stepped onto a grassy path. It didn't look like many people had walked on it, though it was easy enough to follow. They walked quietly, listening to the subtle clamor of the woodland life. The air was clean, and it was cool under the shade of the trees. Overall it was a pleasant stroll.

The path turned abruptly into a cluster of thick trees, and they had to walk single file just to squeeze through the small space between the trunks. The path continued a little farther, but it ended at the door of a small cabin tucked up against the edge of the forest. It was a simple home, with four walls, windows on nearly every side, and a sturdy roof. It was made almost entirely out of small wooden boards, and the roof was fashioned out of some kind of paste and thin sheets of metal.

"Is this where Halvi lives?" Sora asked as they trudged up to the cabin. He looked around at the garden to one side of the house, and the little animal pens in the back. "It's nice here."

The King nodded. "She built it almost all by herself. She had a little help with the roof and the pens though."

The King knocked on the door, and they all waited. Sora continued to look around, admiring the pretty decorations that hung from the edges of the roof. There were several hammocks tied between trees in the yard, and some of them looked different from any hammock he had ever seen. One was wide and boxy, and another looked like a cocoon. The one he liked most was like a large basket suspended in the air. It was hanging down from thick cords that were wrapped around a large branch. Sora thought that Halvi was very creative, or that she at least had a lot of time on her hands.

There was a clicking sound as the door was opened. A pretty young girl appeared in the door way, and when she saw her visitors her face lit up with a bright smile.

"Your Majesty! Sora! You came!" She exclaimed and threw the door open.

Sora smiled and waved, his memories of the friendly girl returning to him. Strangely, she didn't seem to have changed very much in the years since he had seen her. She didn't look any older than he remembered.

Halvi ushered her guests into her home, and gently closed the door behind them. The inside of the house was similar to the outside: simple, but decorated with countless trinkets and interesting ornaments. There was a bed in the far corner, and next to it was a stack of blankets that came up to Sora's nose. The kitchen was little more than a table and a large cabinet full of tools and dried herbs. There were dozens of chairs situated around the room, all of them unique or strange looking. They reminded Sora of all of the different hammocks outside.

Halvi pushed a few of the chairs closer to the center of the room. "Please sit down. Is there anything I can get for you? Are you thirsty?"

She turned to grab several cups from the cabinet before anyone had the chance to answer. She filled each glass with a sweet juice, and then handed them out to her guests. When she passed Riku his cup she paused and looked at him curiously.

"I do not believe I have met you," she said. "My name is Halvi."

"Riku," Riku responded and tipped his cup at her. "Thank you for the…uh, juice. It's good."

"You are welcome, anytime."

Halvi sat down next to The King, holding her glass of juice with both hands. "I am so glad that you all have come. I assume that you received my message, Your Majesty."

"I sure did, but I still need you to explain a few things for me," King Mickey said. He gestured to Sora and Riku. "These two still don't know anything about it, so why don't you start from the beginning."

Halvi glanced at Sora and Riku, a hint of nervousness in her eyes. "Our problem is with the heartless, so I am afraid that it does not have any clear beginning. I shall try to explain it as well as I can."

Sora gave her a pleasent nod, and she smiled. Halvi tilted her head, consitering where to start. Then she began to speak, using a clear voice that nearly demanded attention. "The normal type of heartless that inhabit this world are shaped like wolves, and they carry knives in their mouths. I suppose you saw them when you were last here, Sora. Those monsters are easy enough to deal with, as they are not very dangerous. But recently a different type of heartless has appeared, one that is unlike any I am sure you have seen before."

Halvi pulled out a small piece of paper from a pocket, and held it out for everyone to examine. On it was a drawing of what looked like a dark pile of old oatmeal. "This is what the new heatless generally looks like," Halvi said. "I know that it does not appear to be dangerous, but it does have strength of a different kind. You see, these heartless are like pools of darkness. They are like water; they can move slowly or very quickly, they can hide anywhere, and they can follow you where ever you go. You may hit them all you wish with your weapons, but that will have little effect. Fire is the only thing that hurts them."

Sora studied the drawing thoughtfully. "Can they change shape?"

"Not on their own," Halvi answered. "They would require a container of some kind, but that is not what you need to worry about. The most important thing to remember is to never allow yourself to be touched by one of these heartless. Once it makes contact with you, there is very little chance that you will escape it."

Everyone looked at her with serious expressions. Halvi put the drawing away and went on. "Once the Shadow Pool,(that is what I am calling it), touches someone, it will cling to them and it will not let go. Then it begins to spread, growing larger until it covers the victim completely. As the darkness spreads it solidifies and in the end, the person is trapped inside a mold of darkness. If they are not freed from it in time, the heartless will drain their life through the mold, and steal their heart."

Riku raised his eyebrows at Halvi. "So all it has to do is touch you, and you're as good as gone? There's no way to stop it?"

Halvi sighed and ran a finger around the edge of her cup. "A few people were freed from the mold in time and they were alright. But there is so little time to try and save a person that it is almost impossible to do. Already countless people have lost their hearts to these creatures, and there is nothing any of us can do about it. We are...helpless."

She looked sadly at Sora. "Roren has lost all but one member of his team to the heartless. Kari is the only one left; all of his other friends are gone. That is the other reason that I called you here. Roren needs someone to help him, someone who _can_ help him, because right now he has all but lost hope completely."

Sora's shoulders drooped, and his eyebrows turned up forlornly. "Only Kari is left? What about Elijah, and the Captain? What about all his other friends?"

"Elijah was one of the first to lose his heart," Halvi said. "The Captain is a different story, but as for everyone else, they are all gone. The camp and the town will soon be empty if something is not done, and I cannot say what Roren will do if this loss continues. Honestly, I am surprised he has managed to suffer this much."

The King frowned. "What do you mean? Is Roren going to do something?"

"Not Roren so much as The Noble Heart," Halvi clarified. "The power it has comes from the sorrow of a person who has great caring and love for others. In this situation, The Noble Heart is growing by leaps and bounds. It is possible for it to break free on its own, but that would create an emotional wound that would be impossible to recover from. If that should happen, my guess is that Roren would lose his mind."

Halvi turned her dark eyes to each person in turn, conveying her message of need to them individually with her gaze. Sora got to his feet quickly, his determination clear on his face.

"What do we have to do?" He asked confidently. "Just go around and destroy the heartless? No problem!"

Riku shook his head. "No, I'll bet there's one big heartless that's behind all this. If we can take that one out, that should get rid of the smaller ones."

"Sounds like a plan," The King agreed.

"You all should go find Roren before you do anything else," said Halvi. "He will be at the camp, as he always is. Talk to him, and to Kari. They will tell you anything that I have forgotten, and I am sure they will be glad to see you."

Everyone prepared to leave, sliding the chairs back to their original places, and depositing their cups by the wash buckets. The King and Riku headed for the door, but Halvi caught Sora's arm as he was leaving and drew him back for a moment.

"I must tell you Sora, many things have changed since you were last here," she whispered. "The Roren you meet…he is not the same person you left four years ago."

"What do you mean? How could he be anyone besides himself?"

She gazed down at the floor. "He is…well, you will just have to talk to him yourself. I just wanted to warn you; many things about this world are different now. I fear that maybe too much has changed."

Sora put a kind hand on Halvi's shoulder, and gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry. We'll figure everything out. I mean, look at the team you've got! Me, Riku, _and _The King; I'd like to _see_ the heartless that could stop us!"

_That's not really what I meant, _Havi thought to herself. _But he means well. I should just trust them._

Halvi waved goodbye to the three companions as they strolled away from her small home. Sora was the last to disappear through the thick trees, but even after he was gone Halvi stared at the place he had been for a while before she slowly closed the door.


	3. I Don't Want You Here

**Sorry that the first few chapters have been kind of slow, but I hope to pick things up soon. I have to admit, I have so many things that I want to happen with this story, that I'm kind of excited, and a little scared at the same time...oh well, nothing to do but dive right in! Enjoy...**

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**2**

**I Don't Want You Here**

Kari watched each of her soldiers with eyes of iron and a face set like stone. She screamed out the drills, her voice echoing through the wide yard and in the tired bones of the young fighters. Strings of her long brown hair hung around her face, clinging to her skin with the sweat and dirt. Her trademark red shirt reflected like fire on her cheeks, contrasting with the shadows under her eyes. Her arms were wrapped neatly in a flame resistant tape, keeping her sensitive skin safe from the blaze she often summoned to intimidate the troops.

Overall, she was absolutely terrifying.

She clapped her hands now, and fire leapt out from between her palms. "Pick up the pace! Go! Go! No breaks until every one of you useless turnip brained rats gets this right!" She hollered.

The soldiers dipped lower, pumping out the fastest push-ups that their burning arms could manage. All of their sun scorched faces dripped with sweat. They strained for breath, and their blood was soaring so fast through their veins that most of them felt ready to pass out. But none of them dared face Kari's wrath for those who failed to meet her demands, so they ignored the pain and drove themselves harder.

Sora, Riku, and King Mickey were almost too afraid to approach. Kari was definitely different from the way Sora remembered her. He had met her in the meal hall while having lunch with Roren, and back then she had been sweet, funny, and lively. She had helped him build a tower out of plates and utensils to pass the time, but now she looked like she would sooner incinerate that same tower with a fiery kick and make him do push-ups until his arms fell off.

Riku stared at her. "Who is that? She looks crazy."

"That's…Kari." Sora whispered. "She sure has changed…"

Kari's head suddenly whipped around, and her steely eyes fixed on Sora's face. Sora thought his heart would stop for fear. She looked ready to knock his head off.

All at once Kari's daunting expression dropped away like a mask, and all of her features softened with a delighted smile. "SORA?!" She called in a girlish voice. Sora and Riku's jaws dropped.

"Hi, Kari-" Sora started, but before he could finish the girl had rushed up and wrapped him up in a strong bear hug. His feet nearly left the ground as she clasped her arms around his chest.

"Sora! I'm so glad to see you!" She squeezed him, and twisted side to side with joy.

"Hah, you…too," Sora wheezed.

Kari let him go, and he immediately sucked in a gasping breath. All of the training soldiers were staring at them dumbfounded. Kari ignored them, choosing to brush Sora's shoulders off like a mother with a son returning home at the end of the day.

"Oh, you've gotten so tall!" She said. "And look how handsome you are now! Someone has become quite the young man, I'd say. How have you been? I was just thinking about you, and Donald and Goofy. We've really missed you all here! Welcome back! Oh my, who are your friends, I completely forgot to introduce myself!"

Sora laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Heh, where do I start? Uh…this is Riku." He nudged his tall friend forward. "And this is The King." King Mickey bowed regally and Kari curtsied back with a cheerful giggle.

Sora inclined his head to the soldiers behind them; they were all talking to each other and pointing at them like school boys on the playground. In fact, Sora realized that none of the troops in the yard looked any older than school boys; they were all kids, most of them younger than he was. "I see you're keeping them busy," he said.

Kari glanced back at the boys, and all of them sat up straight as boards under her gaze. She waved a hand at them. "What are you looking at? Go take a break, and be back here in five minutes."

The boys scrambled to their feet and took off for the edge of the yard. Kari sighed, and returned to her conversation. "I hate to be so rough with them, but they don't exactly have a ton of time for training."

Riku frowned. "Who are they? They look like a bunch of misfit kids off the street."

"I know you won't believe this, but those misfit kids are our newest recruitment of trainees." Kari scrubbed her face with her hands, suddenly looking weary. "The oldest of them is only sixteen. That's how old Roren and I were when we were trainees, and we were considered too young to be soldiers."

The King gazed sadly at the children, trying to grasp what Kari had said. He shook his head helplessly. "I guess you guys have hit some hard times, huh?"

Kari nodded. "It's the heartless. They've whipped out more than half our troops. That's almost 5,000 men, and because of that, this base has become a very weak point in our country's defenses. We need whatever troops we can find, and unfortunately the age limit for the draft is almost nonexistent at this point. The situation is absolutely out of control, but no one knows what to do."

Sora stood up straighter, a defiant look on his face. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, Kari!" he said and pounded his chest. "We're here to whipe out those heartless for you, so you can just relax and let us handle it!"

"Thank you, Sora," Kari said. "We could use some help from the experts. All of us are at the end of our ropes."

"What about Roren?" The King asked. "We need to talk to him, do you know where he is?"

Kari shifted uneasily, her eyes suddenly even more cheerless that when she had talked about the young trainees. "Roren…is not doing well. It is probably best for you to go see him, but I…" she sighed heavily. "He spends most of his time wandering around the old camp, usually on the training grounds. Until we can get more troops for him, he has no duties to take care of, so he just walks around all day."

"Huh, that doesn't sound like him," Sora muttered. "Is he training?"

Kari turned her head away. "Walking is training," was all she said. Some of the boys had returned, and one of them had a nasty cut on his arm that needed tending to. Kari quickly said goodbye, and then she left with the injured boy, leaving Sora and the others standing alone in the yard.

* * *

The trip to the training ground was depressing for Sora. The whole camp he had known when he had last visited Nelvis was gone. The courtyard where the high-ranking officers had their cabins was decaying from neglect. Twigs and rotten leaves from the fall were strewn around the broken cobbles. The fountain where Halvi had told he, Roren and The King about the Noble Heart so many years ago was dry, and the pretty benches were rusted and ugly.

The old resting grounds where Sora, Donald and Goofy had camped for almost three weeks were now reduced to no more than an overgrown field. As the companions walked through it along one of the paths they could see the lost remnants of camp fires; old logs buried in tall grass set in broken circles around burnt out piles of cinder. Sora stopped looking around, and hurried on to the training grounds, wanting to get away from the deserted camp ground.

Despite the state of the courtyard and the resting grounds, Sora was still surprised to find the training grounds in the same poor condition. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn't what he found. The sparring rings were littered with tufts of grass, the training dummies were broken and moldy, and the old weapons shed was nearly hidden by vines and bushes. His heart sank when he saw the place where he had spent so much time before in such disrepair.

But, for just a moment, his spirits rose. Off to the far side of one of the sparring rings he could see a familiar figure standing alone. He was taller, more hunched, and obviously older, but it was definitely Roren who was stareing absently out into the center of a long forgotten sparring ring.

"That's him!" Sora said excitedly, and Riku and the King looked around. "That's Roren! Wow, he's gotten older too!"

"Go figure," Riku sighed. Sora looked at him just long enough to roll his eyes, and then he started to wave and call loudly, jumping lightly up and down to try and get his other friend's attention.

Roren looked up slowly. He spotted Sora in a heartbeat, but it took him far longer to respond, as if he could not believe what he was seeing. He seemed confused as he half-raised his hand to give a feeble wave back. He made no move to approach them, so Sora took off running in his direction without so much as a word to the others.

Roren watched Sora run up, a small smile lifting his face. Sora covered the last few feet between them with a large jump, arriving before his friend with a dramatic landing that made Roren flinch back.

Sora straightened and grinned happily. "Roren," he said. "Long time no see."

Roren gave a small nod in response, his smile wavering as if his face were tired of holding it there. "Hello, Sora. It has been a long time. What…what are you doing here?"

Riku and The King came up behind Sora, and Roren regarded them warily. He saw The King and dipped his head respectfully, but he seemed almost suspicious of Riku.

"Halvi called us," Sora explained. "The King told me and Riku that you were having some heartless trouble, so we all came out together to give you a hand!"

"Riku," Roren said. He appeared to think the name over before going on. "He's the friend you were looking for. I guess you found him."

"Yeah, that's a really great story," Sora laughed. "Wait 'til you hear about all the crazy stuff that happened after we left. You're not gonna believe all the heartless I saw, and oh, I have to tell you about the nobodies. It's just great stuff, you're gonna love it!"

Sora started retelling his adventure at Hollow Bastion, but Roren only looked at him passively, as if he were only able to hear every other word. Riku noted this but he didn't say anything. From what he could tell, this Roren character was acting very cagey, which was the exact opposite of how Sora had described him.

Roren was not a particularly tall person, he was about Sora's height, but his build was less wiry than that of the keyblade master. Riku thought his shaggy hair resembled the dark color of dirt in the forest, while his eyes were like grey mud. His posture was poor, and his skin was speckled with scars. The laugh lines around his mouth were shallow and faded. There seemed to be no spark of enthusiasm in this tired young man, and Riku began to wonder why Sora spoke so highly of him.

"He makes jokes all the time," Sora had said. "He laughs a lot, so it's always fun to hang out with him."

_Laughs a lot, huh?_ Riku wondered quietly. _He doesn't look like he can smile for a full minute. What's going on with this guy?_

Sora was still talking, but seeing the digression of the conversation the King interrupted suddenly. "Sorry, Sora, but I think we should tell Roren what we think about these shadow pools. We need to get to work right away before any more people lose their hearts."

"Right!" Sora agreed. "Halvi told us all about the blob heartless you guys have here. Riku thinks that there's one master heartless that's controlling all the little ones, so if we find that one-"

"I'm sorry," Roren broke in. "Are all of you planning to…uh, work on destroying the heartless together? Even you, Sora?"

"Of course, that's kind of my job."

Roren turned his gaze off to the side and stared at a cluster of bushes. He bit his lip while Sora, Riku and The King watched him expectantly. Finally he seemed about to say something, but when he spoke it was as if he had trouble finding the words.

"I don't…know how to say this to you," he said. "I'm grateful that you all would… come out here, but…I don't…" he trailed off.

"What?" Sora prompted him gently. "What's the matter?"

Roren sighed, and then turned his dark eyes to gaze right back at his friend. His expression was pained, but stern, and looking at him Sora began to see for the first time that something was wrong. "Sora, I'm sorry," Roren said. "I know that you want to help, but to be honest... I just don't want you here. Any of you. It would help me much more if you turned around and went home right now."

* * *

Halvi sat in one of her hammocks, her nimble fingers braiding a cloth bracelet together as she swung lazily back and forth. She absently hummed a tune to herself, but while her eyes were focused on the braid, her thoughts were elsewhere.

The sharp rustling sound of movement in the brush caught her attention. She looked up, and a gasp caught in her throat.

A man stood between the trees near her. Halvi knew him, he had come to her cabin many times before, but his visits never brought anything but worry and trouble for her. He was broad shouldered, with long thick hair like the tail of a squirrel that he kept tied back behind his head. A few frizzy braids led from his hairline around to the back of his skull, but otherwise his appearance was fairly unkempt. His eyes were an ivy green, and all the features of his face reminded Halvi of a hungry wolf.

"Malhock," she barked out his name. "What do you want?"

The man smiled and tilted his head back, his chin jutting out proudly. "You called the keyblade master here, didn't you?"

Halvi glared at him. "What does it matter to you? He is here, so I would say that it is about time that you started to…what is the phrase? Watch your back."

Malhock laughed. It sounded like a dog sneezing. "Halvi, you are such a little thorn in my side. What do you think you're doing?"

"Get out of here, do you not have important things you should be doing?" Halvi hissed. She slid out of the hammock and stood defiantly in front of the man. She was much smaller than he was, but she made up for her size with a strong countenance.

"Oh I have loads of _important things_ to do," Malhock said. "But I'm starting to worry that your little friend will screw up all of my hard work."

"I told you to leave Roren alone. I told you that I would stop you from hurting him."

"So you brought that trio of punks here?" He chuckled. "As if they could stop me."

Halvi shook her head curtly. "You cannot ever use Roren's power, Malhock. You do not even have a heart. You could only dream of it."

"So I can't have The Noble Heart," Malhock said airily. "I can't control that. But I'm sure there are other people who I can control that would give me a similar result."

Halvi let no emotion show on her face. "Go away. Go back to your _cave_. I am sure that the others are wondering where you are."

He smiled impishly at her, but she was not affected, so he pushed off the tree and turned to leave. He took one step, and then turned around.

"I'll take Sora down with me, if I have to." He said. "You know that, and you still brought him here."

"Leave."

"Both of them. Roren and Sora, what a pair, huh? The King and that other sullen punk you called here would probably be useful in their own way too."

Halvi's eyes were like hot coals. Her back was straight, and her fists clenched, but her face stayed blank. "You may think that you know what you are doing, but what you are planning will only bring disaster down on you. You do not know Sora. You do not know Roren. And you do not know what true wrath is, and you had best be prepared to find out."

Malhock didn't respond, but only stared, his green eyes flashing with resentment. Then he laughed again, and with a few long strides he vanished into the darkness of the forest.


	4. To Do And Die

**3**

**To Do And Die**

"What?" Sora's face was blank, and his eyes wide. "What did you say?"

Roren's looked at him stonily. Compared to Sora's bewildered voice, Roren's tone now sounded bitingly harsh. "Go home," he repeated. "I don't want you here."

Sora stared at him. "What are you talking about?" He wagged his head back and forth, as if it would shake off his confusion. "We're not going anywhere! We're your friends, we want to help you!"

"Maybe I don't want your help," Roren snapped back, and Sora looked suddenly as if he would fall over. "I want you to go home before you cause me any trouble."

Riku scowled. "I thought you were having some pretty big _heartless_ trouble already. You know, we didn't just show up here on your world, we were called here because it's obvious that you can't handle this problem on your own."

"I never said that I didn't _need_ help."

"Then why are you trying to send us away?" Sora demanded. Color was rising in his cheeks, and the indignant look on his face was clear evidence of his distress.

Roren shook his head once. "If you know anything about these heartless, then you would realize how dangerous they are. There are thousands of them, and they don't differentiate between who they want to attack. They'll go after anyone, anytime, anyplace. It's not safe anywhere on this world."

"I'm not scared of some stupid heartless," Sora said. "I've taken down thousands of them by myself."

"You can't defeat them with strength-"

"I'll find some other way to deal with them."

"I don't know if you can defeat them at all."

"It'll be a piece of cake," Sora claimed.

"You're not listening to me!" Roren said, his voice escalating to a shout. Sora was quiet. "I just told you to go home because it's too dangerous for you to be here. I can see that you don't respect me enough to care what I say, but I'll say it as many times as I have to for you to understand. You can't beat these creatures, Sora. I don't want you to risk losing everything because you thought you could fight them."

"We're still going to try," Sora insisted. He edged closer to Roren, his hands held out hesitantly in a gesture of concern. "We have to at least give it a shot."

Roren gazed at him coldly. "No," he said, and his voice was hard as iron. "You need to leave, now."

"We're not going anywhere!" Sora retorted as he swiped his hand through the air. "I won't just leave you here alone."

"I'm telling you to go home because it's important to me that you don't get hurt! Why won't you listen to me if you really care so much?"

"Because I'm your friend, and friends are never supposed to abandon each other!" Roren jerked his gaze away and Sora sighed with frustration. He stretched out his hand to his friend, but Roren flinched back reactively, as if he expected to be hurt. The look on his face an instant later showed his regret for the action, but it was one that he could no longer control.

Sora dropped his arms to his sides with an agitated expression. "What's wrong with you?" he challenged. "Do you _want_ to become a heartless or something? Do you want to lose the only friends you have left to the darkness, 'cus that's what you're going to get if you try to do this by yourself."

"Sora!" King Mickey said. "What are you saying; that's no way to talk to a friend."

"Yeah, they're real friendly," Riku grumbled in mock humor. He watched Sora cross his arms, his posture clearly conveying his anger. He glanced at Roren, who was practically scowling, but just as Riku began to feel defensive he noticed something behind Roren's eyes that helped him to relax.

Roren trained his harsh gaze on Riku and The King, but though he was apparently irritated by Sora's comments, he was also struggling to preserve a strong look of malice. Weariness, or perhaps sadness, was creeping into the edges of his stare.

"Excuse me," Roren growled and grabbed Sora's elbow. "I need to talk with him a moment."

He turned and led Sora away around the back of the weapons shed on the other side of the training grounds. Riku watched their backs as they marched away, but he didn't try to follow them. He and The King knew that whether or not they would fight the heartless of this world was a decision that only Sora and Roren could make.

Sora was about to rip his arm free of Roren's grasp when the soldier's leathery hand slid off his elbow and let him go. Roren continued on alone, but Sora was aware that he was supposed to follow. Walking behind him, Sora noticed his friend's awkward, limping gait for the first time. Roren hobbled forward with a cane in his left hand, an accessory that Sora never realized that he had. He noted uncomfortably how Roren's left leg seemed stiff at the knee, and how it dragged behind him as he walked, a painful deadweight for an already burdened young man.

Farther ahead was a small clearing in the brush where a few logs had been placed for tired fighters to stop to rest. The place was now as abandoned as the rest of the old camp, but Sora still remembered the spot well. The memories he had of sitting on these logs with Roren, Donald and Goofy came back to him, and he felt a sorry pang in his heart when he looked at the overgrown grass and neglected seats. The sight of Roren leading the way to the clearing was familiar also, as Sora had seen it many times before when he had last been to this world. But now, as his old friend limped over the tangled and yellowed grass, the whole scene seemed to change into one that was much more forlorn.

Roren took a seat on one of the logs, but Sora remained at the mouth of the clearing, his face creased with a wounded frown. Roren took time to settle himself, pulling his injured leg out straight in front of him and setting his cane against the log.

Finally he looked up. "Why are you standing there like that?" He said, not unkindly. His voice was softer now than before, and his features were less angry. "I only want to talk. There are some things that I should tell you, now that you've come back."

Sora came over slowly and dropped down next to Roren on the log. He stared at a small bush ahead of him, and neither of them said anything.

"You're different," Sora said at length. "Really different."

Roren sighed. "Probably."

Sora laughed weakly. He remembered that Roren tended to give that one word as an answer to many statements, and somehow it always seemed to fit, in a strange kind of way.

"What happened to you, Roren?" He asked quietly. "I feel like you're…" He stopped. _You're_ _not the same person anymore._ Halvi's words returned to the front of his mind. _"The Roren you meet…he is not the same person you left four years ago," _she had said. Now Sora understood what she had meant, and he recognized how right she really was. _Too much has changed. Or maybe, Roren has changed too much._

Sora thought about what he had said in response to Halvi's remark, "_How could he be anyone besides himself?"_ He had been so certain, but sitting there he knew that he had really been mistaken. He felt almost as if he were sitting next to a stranger, someone who just happened to look like a very good friend that he had once known; a friend who might now be gone for good.

"What happened?" Roren was saying, and Sora pulled away from his gloomy brooding to listen to him. "Too many things… Some of them were out of my control, but not all of them. I think that it was the things that I could control that ended up hurting me the most, though."

Sora faced him, his eyebrows bent with concern. "What do you mean? What kinds of things?"

Roren's gaze was distant and dark. "Just war, Sora. That's all it was, and that's all it takes. Sometimes, it's like a leech on your very life, and other times it hacks away at your soul like an axe. Either way, you end up with the same miserable result."

"Well, Kari seems to be doing alright. She went though the same stuff, and she still has a smile on. Though, she does look pretty freaky when she's screaming at those kids."

Roren smiled, but it quickly faded. He looked down at his hands and shook his head feebly. "Same war, but different battles. We had the same enemies, but they were enemies for different reasons. We both fought completely different fights, and I guess Kari managed to come out intact, if not stronger. I'm glad for that much, you know."

There it was again, some phrase that Roren always used. "_You know." _He said it all the time, even when no one really did _know_. Sora closed his eyes. A thought came to him, and they snapped back open again.

"It's the Noble Heart, isn't it?!" He exclaimed. "You had to break the seal to use it, and that's why you're acting so…sad." He licked his lips uncertainly when Roren didn't react to what was supposed to be a revelation.

"No, I only used The Noble Heart once," Roren said. "Just that time in the square, and never again since then."

Sora dropped his head dejectedly. "Are you sure?" He mumbled doubtfully.

"Sure am." Roren muttered.

Sora thought quietly for a while, and then he raised his head. "Why do you do that if it does this to you?"

"What?"

"Fight. Why do you fight in a war, when it tears you up like this?"

Roren cocked his head. " 'Their's not to reason why. Their's but to do and die.'"

"Where did that come from?" Sora laughed.

"Alfred Lord Tennyson. It's from a poem."

"Who's Alfred Lord Tennis?"

Roren smiled and shrugged. "I don't know. I've never heard of him. I've never heard that quote before either. I don't know if I like it or not."

"But…You just said it, how could you never have heard it before?" Sora looked at his friend curiously.

"Said what?"

Sora opened his mouth, frowning. Then he smiled impishly, thinking that Roren was pulling his leg. "The quote, from that poem by that Tennis guy. 'They are not supposed to wonder why…something something, do or die.'"

" 'Their's not to reason why, their's but to do and die,'" Roren repeated. "From the Charge of The Light Brigade, by Alfred Lord Tennyson."

"There, you did it again!" Sora said. "You said the quote, and the guy who wrote it, and everything!"

"What quote? Which guy?"

Sora shook his head and dropped the line of confusing conversation. After a while Roren spoke again.

"You know, Sora, I did really look forward to when you, Donald and Goofy would come back," he said.

"Really?"

"Of course! I brag about you all the time…but I've talked to just about everyone in the camp, so most of them don't listen anymore."

Sora laughed, and Roren smiled, this time for a bit longer.

"I wanted to run," Roren said after a moment of hesitation. "When I saw you earlier, I wanted to run. Just thinking about what I would have to face when you showed up…made me a little scared."

"You were scared?" Sora wondered. "Of me? What for?"

Roren shrugged. "I was more afraid that…I would have to ask for your help. I mean look at me, I couldn't run if I wanted to. I can't fight like I used to. I need help. But with these heartless, you have to understand, I'm afraid to get you involved."

"You really don't have to worry, Roren," Sora said encouragingly. "Me, Riku and The King, we can take care of this!"

"I will worry," Roren sighed. "I already am worried. And that's why," he stood up and stretched. "That's why I have to keep an eye on you myself!"

Sora's smile twitched hopefully. "You want…you want to come too?"

"Sure."

Sora jumped to his feat and slapped Roren on the back happily. "We won't let you down, Roren, I promise! We'll get rid of these heartless, and you can go back to reading your poems and training real soldiers again! The four of us taking on the greatest heartless ever! This'll be one for Jimminy's journal for sure!"

Roren smirked and regarded Sora thoughtfully. Somewhere in the back of his mind thoughts of regret were already stirring, though he did his best to quell them. Finally he swore to himself that no matter what, he would not let Sora, or any of his friends be taken by the heartless again. He vowed to put his whole life up for it, pitiful as it was to him, and then he felt just a little better.

* * *

Roren came into the room with a stack of papers in his arms. Riku, Sora and King Mickey watched as he dropped the pile of letters and reports on his desk; it landed with a dull thud on the wooden desktop.

They were in Roren's office, a small room occupied by a large desk, a few chairs and one cabinet in the corner. All the free wall space was covered with postings that Roren had collected over the years; clippings from newspapers about battles he had been in, articles about his team members' accomplishments, and passages that merely caught his eye, among other things. The wooden floor was scraped and faded from much use; it seemed that Roren got a good many visitors.

"I had all the major towns send me copies of their crime reports that involve the heartless," Roren said as he patted the edges of the paper stack. "I get more every week. The most recent ones are on the top."

Riku picked up one of the sheets and looked it over. His face darkened. "Where is Rosen Town?"

"About thirty miles from here," Roren said. "That's one of the farthest reports I've gotten. Most of them come from within five to ten miles of this camp."

He turned and pointed to a map hanging on the wall behind him. It was stuck with hundreds of little pins with small balls of blue or red wax on the ends. Roren scanned the map, found the place he was looking for, and poked another pin into the parchment. He balled up a piece of red wax and stuck in on the end of the pin.

"I've been charting the places where heartless activity has been reported," Roren explained and gestured at the map. "Blue is for sightings, and red is for attacks."

Riku moved closer. "It looks like the most activity is in this area." He pointed to a section of the map that was clustered with the colorful markers.

"There are less reports the farther away you go," The King observed. "And most of the marks in the outer towns are blue, so there are less attacks out there."

Sora crossed his arms and bowed his head contemplatively. "It's almost like…the heartless get weaker the farther out they go from that one spot."

Roren nodded. "Kari and I were just thinking that there was something about that area that the heartless liked. There are ruins there, so we guessed that maybe they liked the gloominess of the place. But now, your theory that there is one big heartless controlling the rest makes more sense."

"Their boss must be there," Riku concluded. "They hang around the giant heartless, and branch off from where it is. And, they get weaker the farther away they go from it."

Sora stepped forward and peered at the map. "How far is that place? What is it?"

"It seems like they've gathered around The Blue-Footed Mountains," Roren said. "That's not very far from here. Less than a day's march to the west."

"Then we know where to go," Riku said, and everyone nodded in stolid agreement. "And, we know what we need to do."


	5. Racing Against Shadows

**4**

**Racing Against Shadows**

Kari was milling around outside, standing patiently by the outbound gate with a small pack slung over her shoulder. She was in the middle of re-checking her provisions when she heard the clomping of Sora's large shoes behind her, followed by the sorely familiar shuffling of Roren's wounded leg as it dragged a step behind him.

Kari set herself to stand before the approaching group, her hands on her hips. Roren slowed uncertainly when he saw her, but then realization hit him, and he stopped. Riku and The King looked from him to Kari wonderingly.

"You're not coming," Roren said firmly.

"Sure I am," Kari's tone was dismissive. She waved to Sora as he walked over to her.

Roren closed the distance between them with a dozen shambling steps, his face set with determination. Kari remained where she was, not affected even a hair by her captain's severe gaze.

"I've seen that look too many times, Roren," she said. "It won't work on me anymore."

"I said you're not coming. That's an order."

"Well, then you can call me insubordinate, because I am coming." Kari tilted her head proudly, and Roren puffed an irritated sigh at her.

Riku laughed quietly, remembering Kari's fearsome expression when dealing with the young trainees. It seemed that even Roren had trouble standing up to her, but whether that was because she was so strong, or that he had become so weak, Riku wasn't entirely sure.

"I've already packed," Kari went on. "And I need a break from training those kids. I'm not a baby sitter; I want to kick some heartless butt already!"

"Fine," Roren grunted. Kari blinked, not expecting to have won the argument so easily. "I'm already dragging these goofballs along for the ride. I'll need at least one person who _might _listen to me."

Sora rolled his eyes and smiled. "That's more like the Roren I know," he said.

The group, now five members strong, set out from the camp just as the sun was climbing to its highest point in the sky. Roren had told them not to expect to reach the Blue-Footed Mountains before nightfall, so they had all been laden with various materials for making camp.

"Why do they call them The Blue-Footed Mountains?" Sora asked.

"Well, they really are blue," Kari explained. "One of the major exports from this region is crystal that comes from those mountains. The mines are lined with sapphire-colored rock that, if put under enough pressure, will form crystal. It's really beautiful, I think."

"Wow," Sora said. He began to imagine what the mountains would look like, but he couldn't quite picture it. He decided to wait and see for himself when they got there.

For a few good hours Roren directed the group along the well-worn dirt roads that crisscrossed over the open plains. The walking was easy, as the path was even with little or no inclines. The sun made everyone hot, and the air was heavy with humidity, but every once in a while a soft breeze would cool the travelers as the trudged on. Kari, Sora and King Mickey walked at the head of the party, sharing tales of the adventures they had had in the last four years. Sora did most of the talking, but Kari had interesting things to say as well. She mentioned how someone had stolen a bundle of Roren's mission reports, rewritten them to be more dramatic, and then published them for the whole country to read. Roren became a national icon for the war, someone that the ordinary people looked up to and supported.

"The war was entering a new phase," Kari said. "We had finally repelled the Rommoran forces to the point where we could attempt an invasion of their country, which was a good sign for us. But we needed the support of the people more than ever. We needed them to believe in us, but what they needed was a face to put with the hope we were trying to give them. They wanted an actual hero to believe in."

Sora laughed. "So they chose Roren of all people?!"

Kari smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. "They loved him. And he really did live up to his name, in the end."

"What did he do?"

"Oh, well, lots of things that people weren't expecting. Once he brought a wounded Rommoran soldier into our camp, and took care of him until he was well again."

Sora and the King both glanced back at Roren with wide eyes. "No way," Sora exclaimed.

"What?" Roren said defensively. "He turned out to be a great guy. Without Jonah we probably wouldn't have won the battle for Simon's Keep. He was one of my best friends, too."

"Was?" Riku asked. He was striding along beside Roren, secretly keeping an eye on the soldier to be sure he wasn't getting tired. He doubted that Roren would say anything if he was, so he made it his job to tell the group when to take a break.

Roren lowered his head. "We lost Jonah a few weeks ago. The heartless came into the camp one night, and he was sleeping when he was supposed to be on watch duty. I found him in the morning, still inside the mold. He always was a deep sleeper; didn't even know that he had to fight until it was too late."

He stopped talking, and everyone was quiet. They walked along in silence, listening to the gentle breeze brushing through the tall grass and the barely audible chirping of birds in the far-off trees. A few hours, and many miles later twilight began descending through the sky, and the warm air started to grow colder. It was time to make camp.

"I was thinking we should stop at The Millstone," Roren suggested. "What do you think, Kari? We're pretty close to it."

"My thoughts exactly. The Millstone would be perfect."

Sora stepped into the conversation. "Is that an inn or something?"

Kari giggled. "No such luck, sorry. The Millstone is the first hill that is considered part of the western mountain range. It's fairly tall, but it's completely flat on top, and round. Like a millstone on its side."

"The Millstone is the best place to make camp for miles," Roren added. "I'm glad we managed to get this close to it. It won't take long to reach The Blue-Footed Mountains from there."

They continued on, and soon enough a large mound could be seen in the distance. The closer the companions drew to the hill, the faster they walked, eager to finally set their burdens down and prepare for a well-deserved rest.

However, the quick pace soon left Roren struggling to keep up. For a good while his resolve kept him close to the others, but his hips were tired from swinging his cumbersome leg around with each step, and eventually he began to fall behind. Riku called to the others to stop, and Roren gratefully sat down to catch his breath.

"Maybe we should just make camp here," Sora offered.

"No, I'm alright," Roren reassured them. "Besides, we're so close now. It's not a good idea to sleep in the open, unless you are on a hill of some kind. The Millstone is protected. We'll stop there."

The others sipped from their water skins while Roren rested, but night was falling, and without the light from the sun making camp would be very difficult. Though his hip was still aching, Roren cut his break short for the sake of the expedition, and began to rise. He was a little surprised when Riku offered him a hand to help him stand up; the other boy was such a stranger to him, and not a person who was very open around others. Riku pulled Roren to his feet, and Roren gave him a thankful nod.

"We should get going," Roren began to say. But then a prickling feeling in his chest cut him off. He narrowed his eyes and studied the area around him in darkening light. Unease crept into his mind, a foreboding and uncomfortable feeling that he recognized all too well.

Just to his side, Riku also seemed to be aware of an unknown, but clearly ominous threat. He sniffed the air, and suddenly his teeth were bared in a small snarl.

"You sense it too," Roren whispered to him.

"Heartless," Riku confirmed with a hiss.

The sounds of the night creatures were growing louder; the croaking of frogs, the buzzing of tiny insects hummed in the air, but just above it all another sound could be made out. Rapid, uneven footsteps. The rasp of a panting breath, and most of all the desperate calls of a small voice echoing through the night.

"Do you hear that?" Sora asked. "Someone's calling for help!"

Everyone listened, and they did not have to strain to pick out the tiny cries coming from down the road. As they watched the dark figure of a child appeared from around a bend in the path. He was unclear, an apparition that no one was sure they really could see.

"There are heartless nearby!" Roren warned. "Watch your feet, they can attack at any time."

The boy ran closer, and soon his terrified face could be discerned. "Help me!" He screamed. "They're chasing me! Th—They're right behind me!"

He charged toward them, and through the gloom a shifting, water-like darkness could be seen following him. It was little more than a puddle, yet it moved with incredible speed, racing over the ground in a sporadic and unreadable pattern.

Sora summoned his keyblade in a flash of light, while Riku pulled his own weapon from a burst of dark clouds and leaping strings of lighting. The King followed suit, and all made ready for a fight.

"Don't try to attack them!" Roren shouted. He had no weapon in his hand. "Get out of their way, and run!"

Sora's eyes darted around, tracking the random dancing of the shadow-pool as it rushed at him. The fleeing boy stumbled and landed flat on the ground with a horrified wail. Sora leapt forward to try and help the child.

"Get back!" Roren cried.

Sora stopped himself and back peddled a step just as the black wave of a heartless swarmed over the boy's sandaled feet. The child howled in dismay, but Sora was unsure of how to help him.

"What do we do?" He asked, backing away and watching the darkness aghast.

"Wait. Once the mold is solid we can start to break it off," Roren said gruffly. "But absolutely do not touch it until then! Understand?!"

Sora nodded, and tensely watched as the dark liquid spread over the boy's legs. The tips of his feet were already cased in a crusty black mold, and as he watched his legs became enclosed in the same stiff seal.

Roren edged closer to the boy, taking cautious steps as if he were treading around shattered glass. Riku and The King were inching up behind him, carefully eyeing the darkness for more heartless.

"I'm gonna die!" The boy moaned. "It's gonna kill me! It's gonna kill me!"

"Hush," Roren shushed him. He drew his knife, and pulled a round stone from his pocket. "We're going to get you out, I promise. Just hold on, alright?"

The boy wept openly as the heartless spread over his back. Roren waited only a moment more, and then he set the tip of the knife against the mold covering the boy's leg.

"I'll try to crack it without hurting him," he said. "I want you all to start tearing off the pieces as soon as you can, but don't touch –"

There was a choked scream behind them, and Roren whipped his head around to look for its source.

Kari had fallen to the ground, her face pale and her brown eyes wide. She looked up at Roren, and it was then that he saw the black mass gathering on her ankle. He realized that she hadn't rushed over to help him with the child, and now he knew why. One of the shadow-pools was attached to her leg, and it was already spreading.

"Roren, there are more of them!" She called. "Watch out!"

Roren swore under his breath and looked around desperately. He couldn't see anymore of the heartless, but he could feel them drawing closer. It was almost completely dark. Soon he wouldn't be able to see at all.

"I have the torches!" Kari cried. "Hurry up and break the mold!"

Roren snapped out of his frozen shock. He re-set the knife, raised the stone and smashed it down onto the end of the weapon, driving it deeper into the dark shell. The blade sank in only an inch, and the mold did not crack, so he pounded it again. It took three more heavy strikes with the stone before the mold split, and as soon as he saw the break Roren dropped the knife and began tearing at the hole with his fingers.

"Rip it off! Like this!" He directed franticly.

Sora and Riku quickly began breaking off the hard shell, but the material was tough and hard to strip away. It was nearly a full minute before they uncovered the boy's leg, and by that time the heartless had already enveloped his shoulders and neck. They worked faster, but now Roren was not there to help them.

He was crouched by Kari's side, his knife and stone ready for the mold around her legs to solidify. Kari held a small torch in her hand, which she then lit by snapping her fingers. A flame burst from the end of the torch, shedding bright light on the dark road.

"If it comes to it, I'll burn this wretched monster from the inside," Kari said.

"It won't come to that," Roren promised. "So don't you even try it. It'll make an oven out of the mold. You'll die."

"Better that then become one more heartless for you to deal with," she said.

Roren stared at her. "Kari, I won't—"

"Quit looking at me! Just break the mold already!"

Roren looked down. The shadow-pool had spread over her knees, but its covering of her feet was solid. He placed the tip of the blade against the mold and drove the knife in with swift, hard smacks with the rock. The knife chipped away at the black shell, but it did not break.

The heartless swarmed up to Kari's waist, and she looked at it hatefully. Roren pounded the knife again and again, but the mold was hard as frozen earth, and would not even crack. He muttered curses with each strike of the stone, ignoring the burning in his arms while the burning panic in his mind overwhelmed his thoughts.

Sora and Riku were having similar luck. The heartless now covered the boy's head, while their progress had only uncovered his body up to his hips. They could hear his frightened crying within the hollow shell, and though it made their hearts and minds ache with alarm, they took it as a sign that he was still alive. The mold became easier to break away the closer they came to the boy's skull, and their pace increased.

Sweat dripped off of Roren's brow as he continued to smash the rock onto the end of the knife. He wanted to look up and see how Kari was doing, but he forced himself to concentrate on breaking the rock-solid mold. Dread clouded his mind, and in frustration he slammed the rock down on the knife with almost the full force of his strength. There was a sharp snap, but it was the tip of the knife that had broken.

"No!" Roren swore.

The impact had managed to create the slightest crack in the mold, though it was barely large enough for Roren's small finger to pick at. He slid the broken knife into the crack, and leveraged it down, making a fulcrum out of the blade. The mold was just about to split when Roren heard a shifting in the grass near him.

"Roren! Watch out!" Kari screamed.

He glanced up at her. With a quickly sinking heart he saw that the mold had almost covered her entire chest. He followed her gaze and at the last instant saw another shadow-pool rolling out of the darkness at him. It was within inches of his leg when he stumbled backward, dropping the knife.

The heartless jabbed at his feet with lightning fast strikes that he barely managed to skip around. He carefully dogged away from the creature, knowing that all the time he wasted fighting the heartless off would take time from helping Kari. And she didn't have much time left.

Roren clumsily evaded another swipe from the heartless, and hopped around to Kari's other side. The King was next to her, trying to dig his large fingers into the crack in the mold.

"Your Majesty!" Roren hollered. "The torch! Toss me the torch!"

The King looked up, and then grabbed the torch from Kari's hand just as the black heartless spread over her fingers. He pitched the flaming wooden stick to Roren, who snatched it out of the air and then drove it straight down into the center of the approaching shadow-pool.

The creature unleashed a horrible shriek, and its body bubbled like hot tar. It writhed against the scorching fire, trying to escape, but Roren held it down with terrible ferocity. The heartless finally pulled itself free, but it was too late; a moment later it disintegrated into a small rise of black steam and was gone.

Roren threw the spent torch away and dropped back down next Kari. The heartless had reached around most of her face; the mold was nearly complete.

"Roren," Kari said softly. "What are you thinking?"

Roren could not manage words, but only grunts as he tore at the mold with his weathered fingers. It was breaking off at last, but even he knew that time was far too short.

"I don't want you to blame yourself," Kari went on.

Roren shook his head to tell her that he wouldn't, but of course it was a lie. She knew he was lying. He always blamed himself, and that was why he had become the broken young man she now saw, and not the smiling, joyful boy he had once been. He had seen too much reality and learned of too many horrors that no one was meant to know. When she looked closely enough, Kari could see that this knowledge had stripped him of all hope, so that the only thing he could feel was fear.

Her eyes wandered to where Sora was, helping the weeping boy brush off the last of the black mold. She remembered what he had done for Roren, and how much he had cared for his well-being. She could only hope that Sora could lift Roren's heavy heart before he became completely unreachable. Then the darkness closed around her, and she could see no more.

* * *

Roren pulled the last piece of mold off of Kari's face, and gently set it on the ground. Her eyes were closed, and she was completely still, but the trace of a smile showed on her pale lips. Roren looked at her, Sora, Riku and the King standing just behind him with sorrowful expressions casting deep shadows on their faces.

Roren bit his lip as his hands started to shake. In a moment his whole body was trembling, despite his efforts to calm it. Silently he wept, but his tears were shallow; he had used them up years before, and there were few left to cry.

The young boy that Sora and Riku had saved stood off to the side. He did not speak, but only watched the unhappy scene with narrowed eyes. He looked up at the moon, now hanging in the deep black sky, and crossed his arms. While all backs were to him, the boy slipped off into the dark, his lips turned up in a dissatisfied scowl.

Meanwhile, Kari's empty body had begun to glow, and small flecks of light fluttered up from her arms and face. She was fading, and it was a beautiful, yet heartbreaking sight. Roren reached out and reverently touched her cheek, but even this gentle contact was too much for her fragile form. She broke apart into millions of tiny, incandescent specks that shone like sparks of fire in Roren's dark eyes. He watched the flecks rise into the sky with an empty expression, until even thier golden glow was lost among the stars.

* * *

The group carried on their march to The Millstone, moving like mourners in procession to the grave. Sora's head was bent low as he walked, his eyes watching the ground while his mind traveled though realms of thought. Riku walked with his eyes forward, but their focus was unclear. The King trudged along beside him, his own gaze wandering aimlessly through the night. Roren was last of all, and by all appearances he was not thinking of or looking at anything but the road.

An hour later they arrived at the crest of the great hill, and stood on level area known as The Millstone. It was a round, flat space spotted with a few trees near the edges and signs of old campfires speckled around the center. Roren limped to a spot close to the middle and dropped his bags.

Sora and Riku and The King made the campfire, and began roasting the salted meats that had been packed away in their bags. Roren was the only one who knew how to set up the tents, and it was evident that he worked much faster alone. He pounded the tent stakes in absently, his hands repeating an action that he had done hundreds of times before.

After a solemn dinner everyone sat around the campfire in silence, staring at the bright flames and contemplating the warm heat that reached out to their bodies. Eventually it was established that Roren would take the first watch, so Riku and The King made their way to their small tents. Sora was the last to leave. He stood and gazed at Roren trough the air of sadness that surrounded them, and began to choose his words.

"I'm so sorry, Roren," he said after some time. "Do you still want us to go home? I can understand it if you do."

"No," Roren responded immediately. "I can't hope to destroy these heartless without you. I need you here."

Sora smiled just a bit. "Do and die, right?"

Roren gazed into the fire thoughtfully, and after a while he spoke again. "I would like to believe that things are not so hopeless for you as that, Sora. But, for those of us who have only a wounded leg left to stand on, the only thing we can hold onto is hope. I fear that I may have lost even that, but for you and your friends."

"I promised you that we won't let you down," Sora reminded him. "We will defeat these heartless. I swear."

Roren smiled gratefully, and Sora blinked at him. In that moment he had almost looked normal again. "Then we'll save the dying for later," Roren said heartily. "Right now, we have very important things to do."

* * *

Malhock sat in the arms of a great tree, an apple clutched in his hand. He bit it with his sharp, dog-like teeh, and chewed with large, open-mouthed chomps. A young boy approached him, a scornful look on his face. The boy's clothes were scuffed with dirt, and his sandy hair was puffed and uncombed. Malhock smiled wolfishly at him.

"Drhi, I must say that was an excellent performance back there," he mocked.

"You didn't tell me I would actually be attacked by the heartless, Malhock," the boy snarled. "I would not have agreed to that if I had known."

"Which is exactly why I didn't tell you."

The boy named Drhi rolled his eyes. He took a quick step forward and snatched the apple out of Malhock's grasp. He wrinkled his nose at it, and then tossed it away.

"The whole thing was a failure anyway," Dhri said. "You didn't make a heartless out of anyone important, only that girl."

Malhock pulled a second apple from his pocket. "Who is to say that she would not be important? Honestly, the way you think of it, Roren is the only truly important target of the lot, which would make you rather worthless, wouldn't it?"

The young boy crossed his arms. "Whatever. Do what you want, but don't expect me to always be your pawn. There are others, you know. Like that stupid girl you let in."

"Of course, what was her name?"

"Liah." A voice from behind the trees called. A short girl strode up to the two boys, her green eyes flashing with contempt. "My name is Liah, you idiot. How can you expect us to stay loyal to you if you can't be bothered to remember our names?"

Malhock grinned at her. "Dear, you have no heart. You cannot be loyal to me, but only to your desires."

"Humph."

"So what do we do now?" Drhi asked. "Isn't that Sora kid a problem?"

"Oh, he's a real showstopper," Malhock confirmed moodily. "But we won't let that stop _us_. No, we have quite a nasty move left to play, and as they say 'the show must go on.' Prepare yourselves my friends; there is a great performance yet to come, in the halls of blue."


	6. The Halls of Blue

**-----Okay, now we're going to pick up the action a bit. Just wanted to let you know that new pictures have been posted on my profile. I now have a character map for Halvi, and Malhock, and one for Drhi coming up really soon (like, maybe by the end of the day). So, if you want to go check those out, they're there for the gazing. Personally, I think they're pretty cool, but I would, since I spent a good three hours on each of them. More will come as the characters show up in the story. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter!**

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* * *

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**5**

**The Halls of Blue**

It was late the next morning when the group reached the base of The Blue-Footed Mountains. Roren led them over a stout bridge that spanned a deep ravine, and suddenly they were all gazing up at an enormous wall of stone. The jutting rocks and lumpy boulders that loomed over them were the slightest shade of deep marine, and even the shadows at their feet seemed vaguely blue. The whole atmosphere of the place was almost aquatic.

"So these are the mountains?" Sora asked. He tilted his head back to try and define the peak, but it was lost in the endless depths of the sky.

"Yes and the mines are close to here," Roren confirmed.

He threw his gaze around the rocky area uncertainly. There were many patches of shade under the skinny trees and beneath the towers and bridges of stone, but none of them were the black darkness of heartless.

"If our theory is correct," Roren mused. "Then there should be heartless here by the dozen."

Riku sniffed. "The scent of darkness is strong," he said stuffily. "There are heartless, but they may be farther in. Didn't you say there were ruins of some kind?"

Roren nodded. "We have to go through the mine tunnels to get to them. I had to escort some researcher there back when I was a trainee. I think I remember the way."

Roren turned their course around the edge of the mountain and led them slowly into a dusty field where towers of stone stuck up from the ground like trees in a forest. There were thousands of the statue-like structures, some clustered close and others spread out yards apart. It was common to see other large stones resting on top of two or three of the rock towers, making roofs and bridges that the group passed under warily.

After wandering for a while Roren eventually found the entrance to one of the mines; a huge hole dug into the rock lined with a supportive wooden skeleton. The ground transitioned from hard-packed dirt to hard stone, and inside the tunnel it was eerily dark.

"This is it," Roren shrugged. "Everybody still up for this?"

Everyone returned his question with a grave nod. Roren whisked out a torch and lit it with a small match. His gaunt face was spooky in the light of the fire as he gazed into the darkness of the tunnel, and for and instant Sora wondered at how ghost-like he seemed. Then the moment passed as Roren took the first step into the mine.

* * *

The travelers didn't have to walk far before they lost all use of the bright daylight outside. Less than two miles into the mine it was pitch black except for the torch that Roren carried. It was the kind of darkness that one's eyes never adjusted to, because in order to see at all one would require light of some kind.

"How are we supposed to fight heartless in the dark?" Sora's voice echoed in the cold tunnel.

"We're not really in the mine yet," Roren said. "This is just the entrance. You could think of it as a sort of coatroom, where people can take off their boots before they enter the actual house and track mud all over the place."

If not for the dark Roren would have seen the puzzled expressions of his friends at this analogy. No one said anything.

"When we get a little farther in they'll be these great big holes in the ceiling where the daylight can get through," he went on. "The mines are fairly shallow since all the ore needs to be exposed to sunlight before it can be mined."

"What for?" Sora asked.

Roren snorted. "I don't know. It's supposed to make the crystal more sparkly or something."

They continued on until they emerged into a huge, roughly round room. Light flooded down into the chamber from a wide hole high above them, revealing all of the stunning blue walls in their mesmerizing glory. Sora, Riku and The King stared at the rock like mooncalves, their eyes wide and their jaws slack in awe.

Roren was the only one who seemed unimpressed. He let his friends admire the beautiful rock while he tensely scanned the chamber. Something was causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise, and his stomach was knotting up the way it did before a fight. He inched over to Riku.

"You feel anything…weird about this place?" He inquired subtly.

Riku began to shake his head, but then he suddenly tensed up. Roren shuffled back a step and beckoned to Sora and The King with a curt nod.

"What's up?" Sora whispered, sensing the unease between his friends.

"Something nasty's getting close," Roren hissed. "Can't you feel-"

A sharp clapping noise bounced around the hollow chamber, stopping him midsentence. The sound was followed by a nasally voice that carried a heavy tone of condemnation.

"Well, looks like somebody's raring for a fight, huh?" The voice grew louder, and rose in pitch.

Everyone whirled to face the opposite end of the room. The voice rolled around the chamber like a wave, and at first it was impossible to pinpoint where it had come from. But then all eyes caught sight of a small figure perched at the top of a tall stack of rock near the center of the room.

A young boy with sandy-colored hair gazed scornfully down on the companions from atop the small mountain of stone. Sora and Riku were the first to recognize him.

"It's that kid from yesterday!" Sora exclaimed. "The one we saved from the heartless!"

"Saved?" The boy shrilled. "You hardly did so much as that. In order to save me, I would have to be in some kind of peril or the like, which I was not. So all you blubber-mouths did was waste your time."

Sora scowled at him, bewildered. "What are you talking about? You were being attacked by the shadow-pools."

The boy kicked sharply at one of the rocks by his foot. "More like I was being harassed by the…what did you call them? Shadow pools?" The rock tumbled down the pile and crashed onto the floor of the chamber. The boy grimaced and started mumbling grouchily. "Malhock is such an imbecile. That plan of his was an utter disaster, but he's too stuck on himself to realize it. I won't be caught in his little games anymore, he can be sure of that."

"What do you want?" Roren interrupted. The boy jerked his head up and glowered at him, but then his face was split by a fox-like smile.

"Look at me," he said. "I'm way up here, and I can still feel it. What a mess you've gone and made of yourself."

"What?"

"Oh, don't act like such a dunce. That Noble Heart of yours is leaking all over the place, and you know it." The boy let out a barking laugh. "You're so thoroughly soaked with emotion that even I can feel it, and I don't have a heart to feel with."

Roren frowned. "The Noble Heart is sealed. It can't just _leak_."

"Well, how big is your heart, really?" The boy questioned. "I'm told it's no larger than your fist or some such nonsense. In any case, I suspect that it can only hold so much, sealed or not. So, the question is: how full is your heart? Would you say it's full to bursting?"

Sora stepped forward and swung one fist through the air. "How do you know about The Noble Heart anyway?" he demanded. "Who are you?"

"You may call me Drhi," the boy said almost before Sora had finished his question. "And I know about The Noble Heart simply because I've done a little studying. It's not exactly a secret, you stupid boy."

Sora glowered at him menacingly. "Was that supposed to be a threat?"

"Do you want it to be?"

Sora was about to snap something else at Drhi, but Riku jumped in ahead of him. "I would think that someone in your position would act a little more grateful." He growled.

"And what, pray tell, is my position?" The boy picked up a rock and tossed it in his hand. "Oh, you're still on the heartless attack. Heavens, I thought we'd gotten past that. You must be particularly slow in the brains. What are you, the court idiot? Brought along for entertainment?"

"What did you say?" Now is was Riku who was scowling, but Drhi was just as unconcerned about him as he was about Sora. Obviously the little boy did not think very highly of the group.

"I don't know what game you're playing here," said King Mickey, "but there's no reason for you do be so rude. What do you want?"

Drhi tossed the rock from hand to hand and considered the royal mouse. Then he stood. "What do I want? Well, I can tell you that I _don't want_ to take orders from that fool Malhock. I was one of the first of us nobodies to arrive here and just because Malhock was able to intimidate that girl in the woods doesn't mean that he gets to be king."

_Girl in the woods?_ Sora thought. _Is he talking about Halvi?_

Sora shot an alarmed glance at Riku and the others, and saw the same concern on their faces. They had picked up on it too. Someone named Malhock was bothering Halvi. _Why didn't she say anything when we were last there?_

"But Malhock is a pitiful leader," Drhi was saying. "He rules with brute force, and at the moment he doesn't have all that much of it."

Roren dismissively waved his hand. "Would you get to the point?"

Drhi glared at him and wrinkled his nose. "As a matter of fact, Roren, you are the point. Malhock wants to steal your heart, if you hadn't figured that out yet. He let me be attacked by heartless last night to distract you. While you were busy fussing over me a shadow pool was supposed to sneak up and snatch that heart of yours away before you even realized what was happening. But those creatures are profoundly stupid. They attacked that fool girl instead and screwed everything up."

If Roren was surprised at this he didn't let it show. His face was blank as he waited for the sour nobody to explain.

Drhi sighed. "There are dozens of reasons why _anyone_ would want your heart," he said. "I could name five reasons why Malhock would want it right now. The Noble Heart covers two right away: Keeping that power out of your hands, and putting it into his." Drhi held up his thumb and forefinger, making a gun shape out of his hand. "Third, you would make a perfectly marvelous heartless. Forth, you would also make a wonderful nobody for our team." He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"And fifth?" Sora prompted roughly.

"I was getting to that, fool," snapped Drhi. He sighed. "I don't know; you're rather famous I gather. Maybe Malhock has some secret fetishes that none of us know about."

Roren rolled his eyes. "Look, if you're done playing your games, we would like to be moving on. We have things to take care of."

Drhi grinned, the rock resting in his hand. "Oh, of course. I'm just about finished, but I do have one more thing to say." He paused and stared at Roren threateningly. "You may have already drawn this conclusion, but I am strictly opposed to letting Malhock get his paws on that power you have. No, I think it would do much better in my…capable hands."

With that he wound his arm back and hurtled the rock from his hand. Roren tensed, ready to leap, but the rock was not directed at him. Instead, it flew down at Sora.

The Keyblade flashed into Sora's hand, and with a swift cutting motion he batted the rock away. But the stone was not the only thing Drhi had thrown. In the shadow of the rock a finely sharpened dart followed. Sora didn't see it because of the stone, and as soon as he completed the swing the dart shot forward and stuck itself into his shoulder.

At first Sora didn't feel anything, but a second later a fierce electric shock jolted though him and he gasped. He was stunned by a surge of pain, and unable to move as Drhi leapt down from the pile of rock.

Drhi made to charge right at Sora, but Riku was suddenly there, his dark blade already descending. Dhri spun on his toes, dipping low. His hand flicked out again, releasing more darts, this time targeting Riku.

The nobody didn't wait to see if his darts hit their mark. In the next instant he whirled again, a bright knife suddenly flashing in his hand, and swept an attack at Roren.

Roren barely moved. His face didn't so much as twitch as he knocked Drhi's attack away with the stalk of his cane. Drhi's recovery was quick, but somehow Roren was faster. He twirled his cane up, sharply catching the boy's elbow, and then plowed it forward to smack Drhi square in the forehead.

The boy stumbled back with a howl that he bit off at the last second. He rocked back, ready for another attack, but he soon realized why his disregard for Riku was poorly conceived. The taller boy came up behind him and wrapped him in an iron-like bear hug.

Drhi let out a guttural gasp as the air was squeezed out of his lungs. He twisted and kicked but Riku's grip was strong.

"Mah! Let me go, you great baboon!" He squeaked.

Roren twirled his cane again, and then set it back against the floor so that he could shift his weight onto it. He looked into Drhi's face coldly. "I see you have some tricks up your sleeve," he said evenly. "But you're pretty naive to think that you could take on all of us at once."

Drhi tried to laugh but it came out as a wheeze. "You're right. I do prefer to fight one on one!"

Roren frowned at him, and an instant later he saw the boy flick something off his finger with his thumb. A tiny ball dropped to the floor and exploded into a burst of thick grey smoke. The mist whirled around the chamber, blinding all of the companions to everything farther than an arm's length away.

Suddenly there was a snapping sound, and then Riku grunted. Feet scuffed on the ground, and the crackling of what sounded like lightning swelled against the rock walls. Cautiously Roren edged away into the mist, his senses straining for any telltale signs of the fight. He dared not call out for his friends and risk giving away his position, but he was desperate to know what was going on.

All at once he registered the clomping of boots on the stone, and he spun to meet the sound. Dhri's figure burst into view, the knife in his hand now dull in the mist. His eyes were wild, and his mouth stretched in a grin. A strange device whisked out from his other hand, and Roren reeled back to avoid the projectile that he thought was coming at him. A zap buzzed through the air, and Roren leapt back again, feeling the strain in his left knee from the sudden movement.

He glanced around, and Drhi was right in front of him again, but just as the strange boy stepped in to attack, another figure slipped in between them.

A loud boom rocked out from high above, and a powerful gust of wind swept down and banished the thick mist, clearing Roren's sight. He blinked.

A large half-dome of oddly-purple light now stood in the chamber. It arched up nearly fifteen feet, and stretched out several yards wide. Roren was clueless as to where it had come from, but what he saw inside the dome helped him to understand.

Dhri crouched along the inside edge of the dome, looking for all the world like a snake coiled to strike. His squinting eyes searched the trapped mist inside the barrier, looking for his target, but when the smoke finally settled his confident expression fell.

Sora stared at him from across the dome, his keyblade poised in his hand. Drhi stood up quickly, absolutely baffled.

"You?!" he screeched. "How did you get in here?! I had that wretched soldier in my sights, and I swear-"

"Surprised?" Sora mocked. Then he shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't want Roren hogging the fight, so I just jumped in."

From outside the dome Roren smiled. Drhi shot him a scorching look.

"You think you're so clever," he said, his lips drawn back in a snarl. "But you forget that I am the one who controls this dome. I can free myself anytime I wish, but you cannot enter." His fox-like grin returned, and his small eyes sparkled. "Just watch. I'll kill your friend before your eyes, while you stand helplessly on the outside, knowing that your turn will come next."

"Bah," Roren scoffed. "Take it one step at a time, kiddo. First thing you have to do is beat Sora, and personally, I think you're just about out of luck there."

The King pulled on Roren's pant leg. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Shouldn't we do something?"

Riku strode up on Roren's other side. His shirt was blackened with what looked like tiny soot and scorch marks. "You can't just leave Sora in there to fend for himself," he said angrily. "We have to break that barrier and take that little punk out, now!"

Roren shook his head. "Sheesh, give the kid some credit. Sora's a great fighter, and more than a match for that lubber over there."

Riku frowned at him. "What's with you? Don't you get it-"

"Shhh, it's starting."

Riku slowly turned his head to look into the dome. Sora and Drhi were circling each other around the edges of the improvised ring. Both of them were ready to spring, but neither wanted to be the first to strike.

"Drhi's quick," Roren was muttering. "But Sora's more agile. He does all those flippy things. He's like a bug or something. All over the place, you know?"

Riku and The King glanced at him briefly, unwilling to tear their eyes from the impending fight. Roren's tone had improved greatly since they had entered the mine, or perhaps it went farther back than that. He acted so confident, as if he knew what was coming long before it happened, and he was okay with it.

There was a clang as the two young fighters clashed for the first time. Drhi sprang back a step, then swiped forward again, attacking Sora's chest. Sora was already in the air, and the nobody's knife cut through empty space.

Sora twisted in mid-flight, and whisked his keyblade down at Drhi's head. Drhi blocked, and pushed away as Sora landed. His hand flashed to a pack on his belt, and he withdrew a handful of small squares from the bag. He skipped away from Sora's next set of strikes, jumping and ducking to avoid the keyblade as is whisked by him only a hair's length apart.

He spun quickly, his knife flashing out in two sharp jabs that Sora deflected with a parry and a counter attack. With one snap of his wrist Drhi scattered the squares over the floor, but they seemed harmless and Sora paid them no mind. A heartbeat later Drhi ducked another attack from Sora's keyblade, but Sora had expected such a response. He dropped low to the ground to be on eye-level with his opponent, and whisked the keyblade up in a diagonal arch.

Drhi couldn't jump back in time and the swipe caught him under the chin, snapping his jaws together. Sora straightened and smacked Dhri's neck once with the end of the blade, toppling him like a stack of blocks.

Not easily daunted, Dhri sprang to his feet again and spat at Sora's feet. "Not bad," he grunted. "But I'm just getting-"

Sora ignored him and came back with three quick attacks: a downward swing that slid into a sideways cut, and then a leaping whollop aimed at the crown of Drhi's head. The first two attacks Drhi managed to defend, but the third crashed through his guard and clobbered him cleanly.

Sora leveled the keyblade at him, his breath coming in evenly. He wasn't even sweating.

Drhi bit his lip, furious. Panting, he got to his feet. His head was throbbing from the repeated hits, and he was sure that at least one of his teeth was broken. His fingers shook with cold and pain, but despite his sorry condition he smiled.

"This fight's not over," he rasped. "I think it's time I stopped messing around, and got to the good stuff."

Sora furrowed his brow in confusion. Under his foot rested one of the small squares that Dhri had thrown, and he felt it crunch as he shifted back.

Roren watched from the outside, carefully eyeing Dhri's hands. One still held the knife, which he brandished threateningly, but the other was slowly reaching into another pouch at his side. He was quite the showman, Roren realized, effortlessly drawing Sora's attention to his knife hand while the other dug up some nasty trick from his pockets. Roren only hoped that Sora would be able to handle whatever Drhi had planned.

"So tell me, key-bearer," Drhi was saying. His boyish voice was sharp with tension. "Do you like fireworks?"

Sora didn't answer, and the other boy laughed at him. "It doesn't matter," he went on. "'cus I'm about to light this place up, whether you like it or not!"

Sora would have laughed at such an embarrassing threat, but he was distracted when Drhi suddenly lit a match that he had pulled from his pocket. With a wicked grin he flicked the tiny flame to the floor, where it landed among a pile of the tiny squares.

The squares exploded before the match even touched them, and all at once the whole dome was alight with bursts of flame as all of the other squares caught fire. The flashes were blinding and the explosions startlingly loud as dozens of the small cubes sparked and broke apart. It was oddly memorizing for those watching outside the dome, as the explosions resembled high-powered lightning bugs glowing in the dark, but for Sora the effect was more devastating.

His skin stung with the sparks and fires, and his sight was almost completely obscured by the painful lights. He felt something smack his side, and then a sharp cut on his back.

Drhi was attacking him, but he could not see where the hits were coming from. If he so much as opened his eyes a peep his vision was assaulted by light. He was helplessly blind, and every couple of seconds he felt another attack from the wily nobody strike him.

Gritting his teeth, Sora swung his keyblade wildly, hoping to ward off any more attacks. He got lucky once, and managed to smack Drhi's shoulder as he rushed in, but otherwise he looked more like a floundering fish on the deck of a ship than an experienced fighter. Drhi conitnued to jump into the frey and slice at Sora, never getting close enough to cut deeply, but always drawing blood. Sora squeezed his eyes shut as more of the explosive squares burst near to him. He felt the heat of the falmes, and the biting sting of the knife as is cut him again.

"We have to do something!" Riku exclaimed. "Sora's getting ripped apart!"

"Oh, it's not so bad," Roren said calmly. "I would think Sora's still on top. He's fine."

"What? Are you crazy? He's blind out there!"

Roren shook his head. "Look, Drhi's just as blind as Sora is. Sora was caught off guard by the flashes, and he hasn't been given the chance to get it back together again. That's Drhi's only real advantage. Honestly, it was a pretty desperate move he made there. He's way out of his depth, and he knows it."

Riku exhaled roughly. "So what do we do?"

"Wait. And Watch. It'll end soon, if Sora can get his head on straight."

Riku was about to argue more, but Roren's eyes went wide as he looked at the fight inside the dome. Riku looked, and saw that Sora had finally managed to corner Dhri. He was raining down blows on the nobody with such speed that neither of them could even pause for breath.

"That's more like it," Roren nodded. "Drhi responds to Sora's attacks in a very predictable way. Ducking a slash, jumping over a low swing, blocking anything else. Sora's already figured out the pattern, and now he can use it."

Riku watched the fight carefully, and eventually he too found the pattern Roren had mentioned. "Sora can't see, but he knows how Drhi will move," Riku muttered. "He can imagine the fight and know what's going on without actually seeing it."

The King clapped his hands. "Oh boy! Sora's really got him now!"

"Aw, he's clever," Roren said proudly. "Look at that, only one out of every three attacks actually hits, but he means to do that. The first two are just set ups, since he knows how his opponent will act, he can corner him with his own evasions."

Indeed, Sora had worked out a pattern to follow. When he swung low, Drhi jumped up to avoid it. Then Sora leapt up and whisked the keyblade by Drhi's ear, and in response, Drhi tried to duck, but Sora's final strike caught him in the middle where he had nowhere else to go. The blow sent Drhi spinning to the ground, where he collapsed in a heap.

Eventually the bursting squares simmered out, and the lights dimmed. Sora opened his eyes a peck, and looked around. Drhi was trying to get up to his knees, but he head was swimming and he swayed as if he were drunk.

The barrier too was fizzing out, and with careful steps Sora backed away toward his friends.

"Nicely done," Roren congratulated him. "Best fight I've seen in years. Could have been a bit longer but-"

"Come on, Roren!" Sora laughed.

"-but I'm not complaining."

While everyone was carrying on, Drhi managed to shakily get to his feet.

"I'm…hah…I'm not d-done yet!" He wheezed though heavy pants. "This isn't over!"

"Oh, would you give it up already?"

Everyone looked around. The reprimand had not come from Roren or any of the others with him, and in fact it was a female voice that had said it.

"Drhi you're going to be in so much trouble for this," the voice said.

Drhi spat. "Liah! What do you want? Where are you?"

A girl suddenly appeared by Dhri's side and Roren caught his breath in surprise. One moment she was nowhere in sight, and the next she was there, glaring at him from across the room. Her bright green eyes were unnerving as she looked at him.

"What?" she snapped. "Get moving. I'll deal with him."

Sora blinked, unsure if the spots before his eyes were fooling him. He looked to each of his friends helplessly, seeing their confused faces but not knowing what they were staring at.

"Go on! I'm not going to do anything to you. Not yet." She waved her hand at them. "So get lost already. Malhock is waiting."

"Malhock!" Sora shouted. "He's here?!"

But the girl—Liha – was no longer paying attention to them. She was busily scolding Dhri as if he had just stolen a brownie from her bakery. He looked guilty enough.

Roren shrugged. "I guess we should just go, like she said."

Riku nodded, eyeing the two strangers as if they were circus freaks on the side of the road. "After you," he mumbled.

Slowly at first, and then steadily faster the group crossed the chamber to another tunnel that led deeper into the mine. With a few more backward glances at the nobodies behind them the four companions hurried on, wondering furiously what more to expect from this already strange journey.


	7. The Fears You Buried

**Okay, so here's chapter six. Sorry that it took so long to get it up, I've been busy shoveling snow, and being tired, and going to work and... yeah. The days just fly by. Anyway, there is now a link to Liha's character map on my profile, if you would like to see what she looks like. I decided to make one for Roren, since he does look different at this point in his life (and because I just adore him. Is that being conceited?) PLEASE check them out. There are also character maps for Drhi, Malhock, and Halvi that I put up a while ago, if you haven't seen those yet.**

**That's all for now, so please, enjoy the story...I hope. Now we get into the nitty-gritty bits of Roren's past. It's not pretty!**

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* * *

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**6**

**The Fears You Buried**

The companions were a little worse for wear at this point, but they were no less determined to reach their goal despite their nicks and scrapes. Their heads were held high as they entered yet another dark tunnel and allowed themselves to be swallowed by the inky blackness of the mine. Roren lit a second torch to replace the first, and the bright flame cheerily flooded the tunnel with light.

This tunnel seemed much longer than the others they had traversed through, and as they walked the darkness seemed to stretch on for miles. At first the lack of real light was unnerving, and the heavy silence that hung in the air put everyone on edge, but soon enough the group was able to cast their spooky thoughts aside and focus on the path ahead.

Eventually they emerged into a chamber, much like the first only smaller. The gap in this ceiling was slighter, and as a result the daylight that reached into the room was significantly less. With the smooth, deep blue walls, piles of rock and small towers of stone the space greatly resembled the depths of the sea.

Roren shuffled to the middle of the chamber and looked around. Before him were two more tunnels going off in opposite directions: one to the west and the other headed east. Roren looked at each uncertainly.

"Which way?" Asked Riku.

Roren frowned. "I..uh…" He trailed off, gazing intently into the west bound tunnel. After a time he turned back to his friends with a confounded look and sighed.

"What is it?" Sora prompted.

"It's nothing, I know that we take the west tunnel to get to the ruins," Roren said confidently, but his voice wavered.

Riku raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure? You don't sound completely certain about that."

"I know that we go west," Roren assured him. "But…I don't remember the fork coming so soon. When I was here with the researcher we walked straight for miles and miles before we came to the fork. Then we turned west, just that one time."

"I had a feeling that we'd get lost," Riku huffed. "We should back out now before we get in more trouble."

Roren waved his hand to reject the notion. "No, I'm sure that we're going the right way. We're not lost at any rate; we've been going straight the whole time. But…we haven't gone _miles_ into the mine yet. Have we?"

He looked to Sora for help. Sora shrugged, very unhelpful. Roren sighed again and looked instead at the ceiling, scowling at the tree branches he could see through the gap in the rock. The knotted branch quivered in the light breeze, its leaves making a swishing sound as they rubbed against each other. Confused, Roren squinted at the branch. It seemed to him that something was off about it, something that he couldn't put his finger on. He gazed at the tree for a long while, racking his brain for the reason it looked so out of place. Then he gave up, blaming the odd image on the poor light.

He returned his gaze to Sora, but to his astonishment he found that the boy was gone. In fact, as he looked around he discovered that the entire setting around him was different. The cold blue walled mines were gone, replaced by another, far more dreary, but all too familiar scene.

Roren was now standing in the midst of a camp, huge white tents propped up around him on every side. The ground was little more than hard packed dirt and bits of stone, but it was muddy from the drizzling rain that fell from the grey sky. The rain made the already cold air feel even colder, and since the sun had set hours before, there were no pools of sunlight to warm up in.

With one quick glance around Roren realized where he'd suddenly ended up. He staggered back, dread hitting him like a blow to the gut. He knew that, somehow, he had returned to the Southern Medical Camp, the place he had spent over two months recovering from a particularly disastrous fight. It was the battle that had rendered his left knee too torn up to even stand on, but even as he stood there between the tents, Roren knew that all that had happened years ago.

_Why am I here? _He wondered franticly. _Why here of all places?! Why now?!_

A touch of cold wind and misty rain brushed by him and he shivered violently, suddenly feeling powerfully feverish. He glanced down at himself, and gulped. His clothes had changed completely; he now wore only a pair of stiff white shorts and an open-fronted tunic that provided insufficient protection against the cold winds and rain. Roren's chest, arms and his left leg were cocooned in bandages, still inflexible and new.

_Medical garbs? Bandages? __Even the rain. _His mind whirled. _I really am back at the medical camp! But that's not possible, I lived out this night years ago. How could I have returned here?_

Despite Roren's furious denial, he had indeed reappeared in the heart of the Medical Camp, wearing the exact same clothes and suffering the same fever that he had two years before. He clutched his head, feeling a throbbing within, and tried to think.

_If I am here, and this is the night that I…_that _night, then Jonah should be with me. And, what about the Captain? Is he here, or has it already happened? Is he already—_

His thoughts were abruptly cut off; he sensed something, or rather someone, coming close to him. Groggily, he looked between the tents, peering into the shadows.

"Jonah?" He rasped. His throat was sore.

A man stepped in the moonlight, and Roren swooned at the sight of him. His hand groped for his cane, but it was not there, and he began to fall as Thane, the man who had almost killed him more times than Roren cared to count, strode into view.

The wide shouldered, well muscled man with cinder-colored eyes shot out a hand and caught Roren under the arm as he fell. Thane's grip was colder even than the freezing rain, and Roren's breath stopped at his touch.

Thane's normally expressionless face twitched with a sinister smile. "You are not well, Roren," he said, his voice like sandpaper. Roren felt like sandpaper was being dragged across his skin when he heard it.

He squirmed, but Thane gripped him tighter, making his sore arm sing with pain. Roren stopped, suddenly feeling absolutely drained of energy. Thane reached up slowly and, brushing Roren's wet bangs away, laid his hand over his damp forehead.

Thane shook his head, a scolding look in his eyes. "Now, now. Sick boys should not be out in the rain," he said.

Roren frowned, his breath misting out before him. Thane lowered his hand from Roren's head and looked at him strangely, almost curious. His thick eyebrows furrowed, and he raised his hand again, this time to Roren's neck.

Two of his fingers felt out Roren's pulse, and though every thought in Roren's head screamed at him to run, he just could not find the energy to move. Thane's hold on his arm was like an iron shackle, and he simply did not have the strength to escape.

"What's this?" Thane wondered and pressed his two fingers harder into Roren's neck. "What a slow heartbeat you have. For most people a pulse of this speed would not be enough to sustain them."

The pressure on Roren's neck vanished as Thane's hand shifted to his chest. "I wonder," the man said as he set the tips of his fingers around Roren's heart. He closed his eyes.

Roren stared at him, fearfully interested in what he was doing. Suddenly Roren felt a hard thump in his chest as his heart lurched forward, leaping toward Thane's hand like a child jumping into their mother's arms. The surge of pain was so intense that Roren's legs buckled, and he would have collapsed on the wet ground if not for Thane's grip on his arm.

His consciousness fluttered in and out, and he was vaguely aware of being lifted, and then put down. When he finally reopened his eyes, he found that he was sitting upright, his back against a wooden board. He was still in the camp, it was still raining, and the dreadful Thane was still standing over him.

"You're heart is so weak that it is hardly able to beat at all," Thane was saying. Roren wasn't sure if he wanted to concentrate on the words. His head was throbbing, and he could still feel Thane's fingers on his skin. The thought of Thane touching him was even more unbearable than the ache in his chest.

Thane noticed Roren's head lobbing to the side, and he bent down and peered into his face. Roren looked at him from the corner of his eye. _Don't touch me!_ His thoughts screamed over and over. Thane didn't seem to notice. He ran his huge hand through Roren sopping hair a few times to wake him, then smacked Roren's stomach the way children did to annoy each other. Roren was not annoyed, he was terrified.

"Can you hear me?" Thane hissed so close to Roren's face that he could feel the man's breath. Roren wanted to throw up. Thane's eyes widened as he spotted a line of stitches by Roren's jaw.

"Got a few pins sewn in to fix that broken jaw, eh?" He mumbled and traced his finger along the scar, from the earlobe to just under the chin. He repeated the motion several times. There was no pain, but Thane's touch made Roren want to cry. Finally Thane drew away and said, "too bad they don't have screws and pins to repair a torn up heart."

He stood up with a final pat to Roren's chest. "But you are rather clever, aren't you? Using the power of The Devastation to maintain a pulse sounds like something that I would do."

Roren looked up through the rain at him. Details of Thane's person were indiscernible in the dark, and he appeared as little more than a hulking mountain of shadow looming over one small, very ill boy.

"I would say that you are becoming a lot like me," Thane went on.

Roren found his voice in a rush of anger. "No I'm not!" He hollered. "I'm not like _you_ at all!"

"No?" Thane chuckled. Roren frowned at him again, sensing something odd about the giant warrior.

He hardly had time to wonder, for before his eyes Thane pulled out a sword. It was a thin blade, a single handed weapon with a strange cross guard. To Roren's horror he saw that the blade of the sword was dripping with blood.

"I believe that this is yours," Thane said and set the sword by Roren's side.

Indeed it was Roren's weapon. He recognized the claw-like design on the cross guard and the intricate pattern carved into the blade. Its name was engraved there also; _Paragon._

It was no comfort for Roren to see the sword again, especially when the blade was soiled with bright blood. Woozily, he realized just whose blood it was. It could belong to no one else, as Roren had fought with only one other person that night in the Medical Camp.

"Captain," he whimpered, and Thane smiled at him.

Suddenly dozens of memories reasserted themselves in Roren's mind, crashing in like a great wave. He remembered the fight with Thane that had left him next to dead, the months of recovery, the surgeries and painful weeks of therapy, the night at the Medical Camp, the trial, banishment into Rommora. His mind raced through the six month span in a matter of seconds but he experienced all of the torturing emotions at once. They seemed as fresh as the first time he had felt them. All at once his mind tapered off half way into his time as an exile in Rommora. He had few memories of that place, and he was grateful for the lapse in the rush of recollection.

Soon the flood ebbed away completely, and when Roren opened his eyes once more he found Thane still hovered over him, watching almost expectantly. Roren gazed at him sadly, and for a long while they looked at each other without speaking.

Roren sighed. "I never wanted to have to do this again," he said hoarsely.

"Yet here you are," replied Thane in a tone that was far too light.

Roren smiled. "Oh, yes. Just when I was beginning to wonder where those years had gone. they find their way back to me. No matter, I lived it once. I'm sure that I can live it all again."

Roren reached out and snatched up his sword, feeling its familiar weight in his hand and gripping it with relish. He leapt to his feet, all sickness and exhaustion gone in the blink of an eye, and lashed out at Thane with all his might.

* * *

Riku had returned to a familiar place also, to a scene from his life that he had all but forgotten. He stood under the bright lamps of Traverse Town, gazing through the window of a home in the Third District.

Sora was inside, talking and laughing with Donald and Goofy. Riku could see them through the window as he stood outside, though a part of him longed to be inside with them.

_And why shouldn't I be?_ He wondered. _Why am I standing out here like an idiot?_

Riku stepped up to the door and turned the knob. The door swung opened easily, and he walked into the home, a greeting set to spring from his mouth. His foot landed on a cobbled street, and once again he was standing outside the house, looking in through the window. Sora was still inside, but now Kairi had joined him, Donald and Goofy.

Confused, Riku reached for the door knob again, opened the door and walked into the house. The result was the same; he did not enter the house, but ended up back outside on the street looking into the house through the window. Once again, a new person had entered the house instead of Riku, some girl in a blue dress with long blond hair.

Riku rushed at the door and flung it open, but this time he didn't step through. Instead he paused at the threshold and gazed into the house. Looking forward there was nothing but empty darkness, and looking back it was the same. Riku slid his foot through the door frame into the house, and a moment later he appeared back on the street.

"What's going on here?" he growled. "Is this somebody's idea of a joke?"

Again and again he opened the door and tried to step through, sometimes running though at full speed, other times leaping through in an attempt to get inside. Each time the result was exactly the same. He reappeared on the street while another one of Sora's friends appeared inside the house. Riku eventually stopped, his hands on his knees as he sucked in deep breaths of air.

He looked in the window, seeing a room literally stuffed with people of all shapes and sizes. There were dozens of them, and they were all friends that Sora had met somewhere on his adventures over the years. To his surprise Riku spotted Kari among the crowd. With a sorrowful pang he remembered what had befallen her on the road. Curiously he scanned the faces, some of them completely unfamiliar, but none of them were who he was looking for.

_If Kari's there, shouldn't Roren be too?_ He wondered. _The way Sora talks about him, he should have been one of the first to show up._

But Roren was not there. His frustration forgotten for a moment, Riku stepped through the door a few more times, and each time another person appeared in the room, but none of them were Roren.

"Why isn't he there?" Riku muttered.

"Oh, I'm over here," Roren's voice called.

Riku turned to his right and saw Roren standing a few feet away. He was leaning against the wall of another building, his dark eyes gazing into the house almost absently.

"How long have you been standing there?" Riku asked.

"Not long. This is quite the nightmare you've got here. Is this what you worry about all the time? Being permanently cast outside while strangers fawn all over your best friend?"

Riku crossed his arms. "Why don't you go in?"

Roren shrugged. "It's not my kind of party. Some of us actually want to be outside."

"That's ridiculous."

"This whole thing is ridiculous," Roren countered. Then he looked at Riku kindly. "You know it's just a dream. You know better than to believe this stuff, so what are you still doing here?"

Riku sighed and looked away. "It's true. Even if it is a dream, it's still true."

Roren patted his shoulder. "Wake up already," he said. "I need your help if I'm gonna get Sora out of _his_ dream."

"What? Sora's dreaming too?"

Roren stood up straighter. "See you outside. And be quick. If you thought this was bad, wait 'til you see what that witch has cooked up for poor do-gooder over there." He gestured to where Sora stood inside the house, merrily carrying on with his many friends.

Riku blinked and Roren was gone, as if he had never been there. He turned back to the house and stared through the window again, and for the briefest moment he saw Sora turn and stare back.

* * *

Sora could still see the mine. He could just make out the blue walls and the piles of stone around him through the dark haze that swirled through the air. His wrists were secured with thick black cords that attached to the floor, and no matter how hard he pulled the cords would not break. He could take no more than a single step forward before the bonds became taught and he was pulled back, but that did not prevent him from struggling.

Out in the mine before him he could see a dozen fights going on, but they were more like beatings than actual fights. All the friends that Sora could remember were squaring off with his old enemies; Aladdin was taking on Jafar in one corner, and to his left the Beast was biting and slashing at a tall man wearing the dark robes of Organization XIII. Ariel and Ursula, Leon and Cloud against Hades, Peter Pan and Hook, and even Riku and Ansem.

But unlike the way Sora remembered these fights, his friends were losing, and badly. Their evil opponents were impossibly strong, and nothing any of his friends did could gain them a single solid blow. All of them were perishing, about to be defeated and lost forever while Sora could do nothing to help them.

He tugged against the cords, but they held him securely. He could hear the cries of his friends as they called to him, begging for aid. How he wanted to help them!

He didn't know how long this had been going on. It felt like he had been standing there for hours. Everywhere he trurned he saw someone striking out, and someone falling to the floor, and every time Sora was sure they would not rise. Jafar's staff glowed with a blistering red light, and a heartbeat later a bolt of firey lightning shot out at Aladdin, hitting him squarely in the chest. The blast threw Sora's friend clear across the chamber where he crashed into the rock wall and sank to the floor. Jafar advanced on him, and Sora desperately tugged on the cords, but suddenly he was destracted by a high pitched scream. Yufi was right behind him, passed out on the floor. She looked absolutely devistated, her clothing torn, her hair frazzled and her skin gashed and scrapped with open wounds. It hurt Sora just to look at her, so he turned away.

He was greated by more terrible sights. Ansem had Riku by the neck, and he threw him hard onto the floor. Riku's head bounced off the stone with a crack, and he screamed in agony. Sora could feel the tears that ran down his face as he strained against his restraints, but of course it was no use. Ansem lifted Riku again, and this time hurtled him at Sora. Riku tumbled to the floor by Sora's feet, where he slid to a stop with his face to the ground. He pushed himself up, but Ansem was there. He kicked Riku in the gut, then in the head, and again in the back. Sora hollered at him to stop, but Ansem ignored him and continued reigning down punches to Riku's face.

"Sora!" Riku shouted between the strikes.

"I know, I know!" Sora wailed. "I'm coming! Just-"

Riku interrupted him. "You have to wake up! Sora, it's just a dream. Snap out of it!"

Sora blinked and stopped tugging on the cords.

"Wake up already!" Riku hollered again.

"Wake up?" Sora said to himself. "Am I sleeping?"

There was a grunt behind him and Sora glanced over his shoulder. What he saw made him cry out with shock; Roren was fighting someone too, but it was someone Sora had never seen before. A tall man wearing heavy armor with long black hair tied back in a tight knot behind his head. His great hulking fists wailed on Roren endlessly, each hit throwing him back against the rock wall. Roren's face, neck and chest were streaked with so much blood that it looked like a bucket of red paint had been dumped on him. He looked like he could barely stand, but somehow he managed to skip around one punch from his enemy. Even so a moment later another strike hit him across the face and he stumbled back.

Suddenly Roren glanced to Sora and a smile whisked across his face. Sora stared, both horrified and confused.

Roren slipped away from another flying fist, ducking under the great man's arm and scurrying away across the room. He quickly approached Sora and placed a hand on his shoulder. Sora gaped at his bloody face, but somehow Roren was talking normally. He was out of breath, but his tone was calm the way it was whenever he talked.

"Like Riku said, don't take any of this too seriously. It's all in your head," Roren explained between huffs and puffs as he tried to catch his breath.

"It sure _looks_ real enough!" Sora cried. "You look like your gonna die out there!"

Roren cleared his throat. "Stop acting like you care so much, it makes me sick."

Sora frowned at him, remembering those words vaguely. Suddenly the man Roren had been fighting came up from behind and grabbed him in a strangling hold. Sora lurched forward to attack the man, but once more the bonds held him back.

"Just wake up, Sora!" Roren gasped. "That's the only way you can stop this! Convince yourself that it isn't real!"

Sora shook his head, not understanding. Roren called something else to him, but it was choked off as the man squeezed his neck tighter.

"It isn't real!" Sora screamed. To his amazement all the fighting around him stopped, every person frozen where they stood. He looked around in wonder.

"It isn't real," he said again, more confidently. All at once the blue of the mines exploded away in a burst of wind. The entire scene was torn away like a blanket from over his head, leaving nothing but darkness behind.

* * *

Sora had his eyes squeezed shut and his back pressed into the cold rock floor of the mine. He could feel the heat being drained out of his body by the freezing stone as he lay still. His head was buzzing in a way that made him feel dizzy, and at first he was reluctant to open his eyes. Finally the world around him stilled enough for him to peek out from between his eyelashes.

He saw the blue mine walls, and thinking he had returned to his terrible dream, scrunched his eyes closed again. He waited to hear the clash of weapons, the explosions of powerful magic, and the helpless cries of his falling friends, but those sounds did not come. Instead he heard familiar voices, King Mickey and Roren. They sounded far away, but their voices echoed off the mine walls and reached him where he lay. Fear weighed on his mind, so Sora kept his eyes shut and waited to hear what they were saying.

"Why hasn't he woken up?" Roren's voice asked. His tone was harsh, but controlled. Sora could tell just by his voice that he was angry. He remembered Roren being truly angry only once, and it had been his absolute stillness that had made him so fearsome.

"He broke the illusion," a woman's voice answered him, but Sora didn't recognize it. She too, sounded distant. "All he needs to do is open his eyes."

There was a pause, and for several maddening seconds Sora desperately wanted to know what was going on. He didn't open his eyes. Suddenly he felt a hand nudge his shoulder and he flinched.

"Sora, are you awake?" came Riku's voice from very close to him.

Slowly, carefully, Sora opened his eyes. Relief swamped him when he saw a perfectly intact Riku leaning over him, his eyebrows bent with worry. Riku sighed as if he had dropped his heavy backpack after lugging it up the side of a mountain.

"He's alright," Riku called over his shoulder.

Sora sat up and rubbed his face with the heels of his hands. "What's going on?" he mumbled.

Riku didn't answer. He seemed occupied with something that was going on above them, and Sora scooted forward to see what he was looking at.

There was a wide ledge across from where Sora was sitting, about twenty feet off the bumpy floor of the mine. Roren was standing on one side of the shelf of rock and King Mickey waited at his side. The King wore and expression of scolding anger, but Roren's face was blank, his own anger smoldering behind his dark eyes. In his hand he held his cane, but instead of a shaft of wood, a thin blade stuck out from the handle.

_A concealed sword!_ Sora thought excitedly. _No wonder Roren doesn't carry his sword with him; he's already got one inside his cane!_

"There, you see? He's perfectly fine," the unfamiliar woman's voice sounded again, and Sora realized that there was someone else on the ledge with his friends.

She was crouching on the opposite side of the outcropping from where Roren and The King stood, her entire body tense and her pretty face creased with an uneasy frown. She was the same woman who had interrupted Drhi in the first chamber, but now she did not look so confident as she had then. With a jolt Sora noticed that the tip of Roren's sword was pressed against her neck so closely that it would only take a slight movement to cut her skin.

Sora went cold, but not from the freezing floor of the mine. Roren's furious gaze told him everything that he didn't want to know; he was going to kill that woman, and from what Sora could see, he wouldn't even blink when he did it.

The woman-- Drhi had called her Liha, Sora remembered—swallowed and took a shaking breath. "How did you break the illusion?" Her voice was little more than a whisper. Apparently she had guessed Roren's intentions as well.

"It was a mistake to ignore The King. He woke me up, but besides that your…recreation had some flaws," Roren said evenly. Then he smiled so wickedly that Sora didn't recognize him. "It wasn't Thane who came after me that night, but rather his sadistic minions. If it had been Thane, I wouldn't be here now; I_ know_ he would have killed me. He wasn't man you portrayed with your silly illusion. He probably only knew about thirty words, he hardly ever spoke, and he certainly didn't play around with his targets like they were his children. He only touched people to hurt them."

Liha gazed at Roren uncertainly for a moment. Slowly she said, "But, it was different with you, wasn't it?"

Roren's mask faltered for just a second, but it was long enough for Sora to see his face twist with a distressing expression. For that one instant Roren's anger dissipated into pure fear, the kind of quiet terror of a child left in the dark.

Roren recovered right away. "What does it matter? Thane's gone for good now."

"I know that you don't believe that," Liha countered. She seemed to have regained some confidence. She began to stand.

"I know he's gone," Roren repeated. "I destroyed him myself, after he tried to kill an entire country of innocent people!"

His voice rose with every word. His resolve was breaking, and he knew that he needed to change the subject, but Liha had found the hole in his armor and she drove for it with all her might. Roren was disgusted with himself for letting her find his weakness so easily.

"The illusions that I create are not memories," Liha explained, now standing at her full height. "I can only find the things that are on the surface of the mind: hopes, goals, the people and things you care about, but most importantly I find the things you fear. You saw both of your friend's dreams. Those did not seem like memories did they?"

Roren did not answer, but pressed back at her both with his sword and with his livid gaze. Liha was not phased.

"What I do is illustrate the things that my enemies fear the most. For Riku, it is fear of being forgotten. For Sora, he fears losing all the friends that he cares about because he could not protect them. Both are completely natural things for them to be afraid of. And it is the same for you as well, Roren. With what you have experienced, it is completely reasonable for you to be afraid of Thane."

"I'm not afraid of him," Roren hissed. "He's gone."

Liha smiled. "But you still wonder: what if he comes back? What if you had to return to those days when he hounded you every day? Those days when he tore into you, when he crushed your will and forced you to hurt the very person that you loved more than anyone else."

Roren turned away, his eyes closed tightly. Sora stared at him numbly. He had never seen his friend look so hurt.

"That's what you meant when you said 'some of us want to be on the outside,'" Liha continued, not relenting even a moment. "You keep yourself distant so that if Thane does return, he can't use your friends against you again." All of a sudden she stopped herself, looking as if she had just realized something. "But, while you live in fear of Thane, the thing you fear the most is your own past. That's why your illusion was so like a memory, because you cannot bear to look back to those days. To just remember is enough to break your heart—"

"That's enough!" Sora cut her off. She looked at him without turning her head. "You can stop your mind games! You're outnumbered and you know it. We saw through your illusions, so now you're just stalling, hoping that one of your friends will come and help you out!"

"I don't have any friends," Liha huffed. "And I am not stalling. Everything I have said is the truth."

The break in Liha's speech had given Roren the chance he needed. With one quick step in he sliced a clean cut across the woman's neck. It was not enough to kill her, but it shocked her enough for Roren to strike again. He drove a powerful punch into her cheek, then immediately slashed at her three more times. The swipes had landed in the time Sora took to blink, and the next thing he knew Liha was on her knees with Roren crouching by her side. It had happened so fast that Sora's mind hadn't even processed it until moments later. He hadn't known that Roren, who had to limp wherever he went, could move so fast. Now Roren was saying something to the woman, but Sora could only make out mumblings.

"You think that you can use my memories of Thane against me," Roren whispered into her ear, "and I'll admit that for a while there, I really was afraid. But what you don't realize is that it was Thane who turned me into the person I am today. He made me the kind of man who wouldn't think twice about driving his sword right through some cocky woman's chest, just to shut her up."

Liha turned her head to look into his face. She had no words left to say, so Roren went on uninterrupted.

"But do you see those people down there, the ones you tortured with your pretty illusions?" he jerked a finger at Sora and Riku, who apparently couldn't hear what he was saying. "I will do anything to be sure that they _never_ find out the things that you dug up while you were scrounging around inside my head. If I killed you, then they would know. So I'm letting you live, because they're watching me. But," he grabbed her neck forcefully, "but if you ever hurt them again, I will destroy you, and I won't think twice about it. Maybe, I won't even think about it at all."

With that Roren stood up and turned away. He walked around to the far side of the ledge and disappeared around the corner. Liha stared after him, as if she didn't really believe that he was letting her go. It wasn't until Roren appeared back on the mine floor, his sword hidden inside his cane once more, that she finally began to relax, but she didn't move from that spot even after the group had entered another tunnel and left the chamber.


	8. Thane, Malhock, and The Black Dress

**First off, I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to update, but I've been a little distracted as of late, but I won't make any excuses. I promise to those few faithful readers who have gotten this far that the story will start to pick up. People aren't who you think they are and all that fun stuff. Once again there's nothing left to do but jump right in, so here goes..**

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**7**

**Thane, Malhock, and the Black Dress**

"Can you keep going?"

Roren glanced up, pulled from his distant thoughts by a movement in front of him. Riku stood a foot away, all the shadows on his face dark and long. The companions had paused in their trek in order to rest inside one of the shorter tunnels, taking time to recollect themselves after their mental struggles with Liha. They had eaten a quiet meal, emptied their water skins, and bandaged any of their nastier injuries in preparation for the fight they still expected to come.

Riku had noticed Roren staring into the dark, and even while he watched the young man did not move, but sat like a hunched statue carved out of the blue rock walls. The slow rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed was the only sign that he was not made of stone. Sora and King Mickey had taken seats farther up the tunnel, but their uncomfortable fidgeting was a clear sign that they wished to move on with the journey.

Roren blinked. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I just wanted to know if you'll be able to keep going," Riku repeated.

"Oh, yeah. I'm ready to go." Suddenly taken by a surge of energy, Roren set his cane against the stone floor and began to push himself up. Riku offered him a hand, which the young soldier took gratefully.

Once he was on his feet Roren immediately put on an air of confidence and determination. For Riku the disguise was paper thin, but it seemed to please Sora and The King, so Roren continued to walk with a forcefully straight back and a stride that was far too deep for his injured leg. Riku hung back as Sora and King Mickey trekked ahead, fully aware that the shaggy haired warrior had already fallen behind.

"You need another break?" he asked, stopping to look over his shoulder.

Roren shuffled up next to him and wrinkled his nose disapprovingly. "Who do you think I am? Somebody's old grandfather? I'm managing just fine."

Riku decided not to comment on the film of sweat over Roren's brow, and walked slowly with him down the tunnel. Sora and The King were mere dark figures against the light ahead; they had yet to notice that two of their friends trailed well behind.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me back there," Riku said. "You really saved me from that nightmare."

Roren took a while to respond, his breath slipping out in short, rough bursts. "It was…nothing," he puffed automatically. "I felt like…I owed you, you know…for watching…out for me…on the road."

Riku slowed his pace, knowing that Roren would do so as well in order to preserve the conversation.

"We have to take care of each other," Riku went on, so quietly that it almost seemed he was talking to himself. "That's one thing I've learned from all these adventures. Nobody makes it far alone."

Roren nodded his agreement, his eyes once again locked on something in the middle distance. Riku studied him silently, and after a while he asked, "Who was Thane?"

Roren stumbled, his cane slipping against a loose stone. Riku quickly wrapped an arm around his shoulder and helped him straighten, but Roren was bent on walking despite the uneasy churning in his gut. Neither boy said anything for several moments, and they approached the entrance to the next chamber with no words between them. Then Roren paused and gradually turned his gaze to Riku's face.

"Thane was a powerful general in the Rommoran army, the army I fought against during the war," he explained, his voice quiet so that only Riku could hear. "When I was…thirteen-years-old, I think, he met me while I was heading home one night. I don't remember what I was going home from, but I do remember seeing Thane standing in the shadow of a tree, and how he walked over to me like we were old friends. He started talking to me, and I was amazed that this stranger knew so much about my life." He paused, clearly surprised by the overflow of words. Sighing with bemused acceptance he went on. "Thane knew how my father was always away, fighting on some border that I couldn't pronounce, and he knew how I had been mugged a few weeks before. He knew things that I never told anyone about, like how…how I wanted to be with my father in the army, and but that I was scared out of my mind to sign up."

He took a shaky breath and shifted his feet uncomfortably. Riku waited patiently in the half-lit tunnel, noting a familiar look to Roren's countenance. Roren blinked and went on, his voice still hushed.

"He said that he had a way for me to feel safe all the time," he continued. "He said that if I wanted, he could give me a power that would make me stronger than any enemy. Thane looked me in the eye and told me that I would be invincible." Riku's jaw clenched unbidden upon hearing this, and he forced himself to relax. "I met him again a few days later, and he asked if I would accept his offer, and I said…yes. So…he held my arm, and I felt this jolt inside my head. I passed out, didn't wake up for a week, but when I did…I felt like a one man army."

Roren smiled sadly and shook his head. "I could smash boulders, jump high enough to touch the wings of birds, and on a battlefield no man stood a chance against me. I took soldiers down by the dozens with one hand. I really felt like the strongest man alive."

"But," Riku whispered.

"But," Roren agreed, "It wasn't free. That power came from the fusion of man and creature. It was a force that many in the ancient world had possessed, but one that had brought low all of that first civilization. The Ancients called it the _Aha Desquiem_, "The Devastation." From what I experienced of it, that name fit the power I had to a tee. It required concentration to wield, but just using it tore up the mind and the body. It didn't help that Thane was connected to me through it. I could always feel him…kind of lurking inside my head. He didn't give me The Devastation as a favor, but to use me, so he would do whatever he could to get me to lose myself to the power. I started to hate him, but I was afraid to sever our link because I thought that I needed power to survive, even though it was literally killing me."

Roren grew thoughtful, and his brown eyes sparkled with a thin line of tears on the edges. He rubbed his nose and sniffed, then raised and dropped his arms helplessly. "The only person who kept me sane was my captain. He knew about The Devastation and what it could do, so he would do his best to keep me in check. The Captain was always there when I needed him, like he was a step ahead of everything. He would let me learn on my own, but he would never let me fall too far, and I…" Roren choked and nodded as if to encourage the words out of his mouth. "I…loved him for that. He was saving me, a little bit at a time, and I would have done anything for him in return."

"But Thane wouldn't let me get away," Roren went on with a scowl. "No, he searched me out when he saw I was slipping. When he found me, he beat me down so hard that I spent three weeks on the edge between life and death before I even stared to recover. I was delirious, and while I was not in control Thane dealt the biggest blow that he could, hoping to push me over that edge."

"I was sick, I was tired, and when those Rommorans attacked I did the only thing I could to defend myself. I used The Devastation, but I couldn't control it, you know? Thane was a hundred miles away, but he still crept into my head and took over." Roren grew even quieter than before, but the words continued from his mouth before he could even think about what he was saying. As he spoke the memories showed in his mind, and he had to fight the urge to shy away from them.

"He went right for my captain, and fought him while I watched from the inside of my own mind. And Thane k-killed him," Roren faltered and a quick tear dropped from one eye. "But his blood was on my sword. I should have known Thane would do that to me. It was so—perfect! It was just the move he needed to break me, and I walked right into it."

Roren open his mouth, planning to say more, but he realized that Riku already understood enough. His hands shaking, Roren lowered his eyes to the ground and tried to compose himself.

"I had a Thane of my own," Riku said softly, though Roren hadn't expected him to say anything. "His name was Ansem. I see that your story and mine…they're not all that different. Ansem offered me power, strength that came from darkness, and I took it eagerly. I even fought with Sora. He was my best friend and I wanted to crush him. But then I realized that I was on the wrong side. I looked behind me, and all I could see was decay."

Roren looked up, his face gaunt. "He tore you up too, huh? Lied and lied until your whole life was out-side down."

Riku crossed his arms. "I was able to get free, thanks to Sora and King Mickey. But I still imagine sometimes what it would have been like if I'd stayed."

"You'd be more like me." Roren sighed.

Riku shook his head and stepped up to the side of the young soldier. "You're not dead yet. We still have a chance to get you out of that grave you've gone and dug for yourself. But don't think that freedom is something you can reach on your own. No one is strong enough to do that."

"We need each other, like you said," Roren intoned. Riku smirked at him.

"I'm glad you finally got that through your head," he laughed. "I was starting to think we'd never get though to you."

Roren rubbed his eyes and chuckled. "My head may be messed up, but it's still as hard as stone, I guess."

Riku took his elbow and started moving him along. "Look, you never have to doubt that Sora will do anything to help you. The same goes for The King. They'll watch out for you no matter what."

"What about you?" Roren asked, leaning on Riku's arm as he limped forward.

"I can't believe you even have to ask," Riku muttered, but then he flashed a kind smile. "You've been through the dark, just like me. Friends from the night are the strongest comrades you could ever find."

Malhock sat on the very lip of the ledge, his sandaled feet dangling almost fifty feet above the head-splittingly hard ground. He sighed, boredom a weight on his sharp mind. His equally sharp eyes wandered around the field, fixing for mere seconds on the moss covered ruins, the ancient trees with their nests of tangled roots, and on the great expanse of grey sky looming above the highest branches. His gaze lingered longest on a pool of inky darkness shifting and rippling in the wide open space between two decaying foundations. Despite the excitement that lay in wait inside that pool the impatient nobody could not fix his interest on it for long.

Taking a short, straight sword from its sheathe at his belt, Malhock swished the weapon through the heavy air. He could smell the rain that hung in the massive clouds, waiting to come crashing down to the sun-scorched earth at his beck and call. He laughed at that thought; the weather only obeyed Drhi, though the irritating young boy found his influence to be immensely useless.

With an aggravated groan Malhock lay back against the rock face behind him. He found a leaf resting on the ledge and tossed it over the side. He watched it for the instant that it fluttered before his eyes, and then it disappeared from view and twirled its way down to find a new respite.

"What's taking so long?" Malhock grumbled.

He listened intently, his jaw working as hard as his ears. Only the soft rustle of leaves and the creak of old tree limbs reached him, and his frustration built. A surge of annoyance burst into his head, and in a fit Malhock wound back and lobbed his short sword toward the nearest tree. The blade drove into the bark with a _wunk! _that Malhock found satisfying enough.

He stood up, carefully turning his feet on the thin ledge and inching to the far right side. He leaped, his hands casually reaching until they wrapped around a fat tree branch. Malhock shuffled forward along the branch and then scrambled down the trunk it connected to, then leapt onto a second branch and thus made his way to the ground.

With an easy stride the nobody walked over to his sword where it stuck from the tree. He gripped the handle and began working the blade free with small left-to-right jerks, but to his great annoyance the tree had a strong hold on his weapon. He reached his other hand up to apply a double-handed grasp on the handle, but he stopped halfway through the motion.

He shivered as a subtle prickling ran up his back and over his shoulders.

"Are you Malhock?"

A sly grin stretching his thin lips, the nobody turned. Roren stood only a few yards away, his peculiar band of friends stepping up to either side of him. Their approach had been noiseless, and Malhock inwardly kicked himself for abandoning his post. The fact that he now resided on the ground with them at the time of their appearance changed his plan significantly. Cooley Malhock began to extend his designs to include this fluke while his face remained still and unreadable.

"Glad you could finally make it," he answered. "Though I was expecting five guests…who are we missing?"

Roren licked his lips and Malhock felt a pulse of sadness stir in his gut. _So, Liha actually got it done_ he thought. _She said I would be able to feel it when the Noble Heart was free, but…I expected it to be more potent than this. Perhaps with a bit more goading…_

"You four have come a long way, I can see you're tired," Malhock continued. "It's not easy for such a weathered soldier to traverse these hills, Roren. But then again, you are known for your surprises, aren't you?"

The reaction that Malkhock received for his prodding was less than he expected. Once more he felt a small twitch of emotion, but it was weaker than the first. He was about to try another attack when Roren spoke up.

"We're not here to toss around words," he said roughly. "If you know anything about the shadow-pools then tell us now. If not, then you had best get out of our way."

Malhock narrowed his eyes. "The shadow pools? Such an odd name, who told you to call them that?"

"Somebody you know pretty well, we hear," Sora called out. "A little bird told us you've been bothering Halvi."

Malhock raised his eyebrows. "Drhi certainly makes a bothersome 'little bird.' I always knew he couldn't be trusted, but fool that I am, I still let him run loose."

With three even paces Roren advanced on Malhock like a boulder rolling down a mountain. The nobody didn't draw back, but stubbornly held his ground. The closer the young solder came, the more intense the emotion grew in Malhock's core, but even then it was not enough to faze him.

"Do you know about the heartless or not?" Roren demanded, leaning in close.

Malhock cocked his jaw and scowled. "You want to get rid of the shadow pools, hmm?" He muttered in a low voice. "Well, those heartless have a certain _obligation_ to me, seeing how I brought them about. And I am willing to cut you a deal, my dear friend."

Roren frowned. "What is it?"

"I'll call off my beasties, sure." Malhock said, subtly sliding one foot back. "But I demand a steep price!"

In one lightning quick motion, Malhock reached behind him and, snagging the handle of his short sword, ripped it out of the tree trunk and swung the blade at Roren's chest. Roren reeled back and the blade slid by him, avoiding harm by a mere sliver of distance.

The next attack was almost faster than the first. Bending expertly at the knees Malhock swiped at Roren's leg. It took all of Roren's skill just to slip out of the way and in his rush he stumbled on his weak knee. The muscles protested with a pinch of pain and threatened to give way, but Roren quickly steadied himself and focused on his opponent. Next Malhock rushed in with a battery of continuous cuts; overhead, side, diagonally up and down, and swipe after swipe toward Roren's torso. Back peddling quickly, Roren dodged and defended as best he could, but Malhock was bearing down on him powerfully.

A whirr of movement by his side broke Malhock's assault. He pulled away from Roren and parried Sora's whirling keyblade as it flew toward him. The weapon smacked the nobody's short blade and clattered to the ground, vanishing a second later to return to its master's hand. Sora jumped up, throwing his legs over his head and driving the keyblade down with all the force of his weight. Wisely Malhock declined to shield himself with his own sword, choosing instead to elude the attack with a step back.

Suddenly his skin prickled fiercely, a forewarning of an attack. Malhock ducked, feeling a light whoosh as a second keyblade tore the air above his head. He half-turned to defend a series of well-placed attacks from King Mickey, surprised at the intense skill of the large rat. Sensing more attacks descending on him, Malhock drew his second sword, bearing the dark weapon in his left hand. He turned in a tight circle, both defending attacks from Sora and The King and managing a few crafty swipes of his own as the three fought with incomprehensible combinations.

Though few of Sora or King Mickey's attempts to hit the nobody succeeded, the effect of their efforts was obvious. Malhock was tiring, his speed slowing every second that he fought. His breath came in long, weighted gasps and little blots of sweat leisurely slid down his brow. Encouraged, Sora drove in even harder, putting more muscle into every bone numbing attack.

Unexpectedly Malhock crouched low, two keyblades cutting through the space he had occupied. He punched up with both swords tilted down, a vigorous attack that caught Sora off guard. Sora recoiled, stepping back and out of Malhock's range, but King Mickey was far more offensive. The large rat charged his opponent with full strength, but the nobody rotated around  
behind him and plowed his foot into The King's back. King Mickey's round feet left the ground as he toppled forward and tumbled into Sora's legs.

With a few balanced hops backwards Malhock escaped from the fray to the other side of the ring. He wore a wide grin, and his eyes laughed with scornful contempt as he tucked his duel swords back into their scabbards.

"He's good," Sora breathed.

"Maybe, but he can't take on four of us for very long," Riku said. He had been calmly watching the conflict unfold from the edges of the clearing, but now he stepped in to offer his advice.

Roren nodded distantly. Something had struck him about this malicious stranger, a feeling of familiarity that he could not place. His leg ached. Clutching his cane he wondered as to how much use he would be if the fighting continued.

But Malhock's plan was taking a different turn. His stride was confidant as he moved toward the dark pool that rested unnoticed on the farther side of the clearing.

"I thank you for that bit of a warm-up, boys," he said. "But now I need to move this _party_ along to bigger and better things."

Without another word the nobody stepped into the small lake of darkness and sank through as if he had just fallen into a deep hole in the ground.

Everyone gawked, a mixture of confusion and amazement stirring in their wide eyes. Riku frowned apprehensively, remembering taking such an action many times in his past. Surrendering to darkness was never a good thing for anyone, be they friend or foe.

He said so, and the others looked from him to the pool with expectant gazes. Admittedly they did not know exactly what it was they were expecting, but only that it would probably mean more fighting.

After a few long minutes of silence the group began to lower their guard. Eyes still watchful Sora dropped his belligerent stance and shouldered his keyblade.

"Do you think he ran away?" he wondered.

Roren wagged his head. "That doesn't seem like him."

Sora shuffled forward and peered into the dark pool. He even poked his keyblade into the water-like depths to test it, but even though the blade sank up to the handle into the darkness it came up curiously empty.

"I wonder if this goes somewhere," he murmured. "Do you think he wants us to follow—"

His words were cut off by a deep and thunderous sound from below. The noise vibrated through the stones, and the ground shook with enough force to unbalance the four boys where they stood. Roren went down to one knee, unable to remain standing while the earth rumbled and shook.

"Sora get back!" The King warned, and Sora ran away from the pool to his side.

He glanced over his shoulder in time to see something shifting in the pool. The darkness bulged, great mounds of gloom and shadow swelled out of the depths creating small hills of shade against the grey sky.

The heaps were followed by string-like wisps, black in color and numbering in the hundreds. They reached out of the pool and snagged onto the stones and trees around the clearing, going taut as they pulled the mass out after them.

The mounds grew to enormous size, their great black bulk casting a huge shadow over the group. As they watched hundreds more of the rope-like wisps stretched out from the pool, reaching high into the sky as if to grab hold of the clouds.

The ground trembled so powerfully that large rocks began to tumble down the mountain side to crash into the clearing below. Still the darkness grew until it was like a second mountain towering over the trees, boulders and the four little people at its feet.

In an instant everything went still. The rumbling ceased, the earth calmed and the tower of darkness paused in its climb.

Roren gazed up at the dark mass uncertainly. Often when powerful heartless were near he would feel a pain in his chest, but now he felt nothing but a shiver of dread. Slowly the mounds broke apart, peeling away like the pedals of a blooming flower. The dark peels bent completely backwards, turning inside out and creating an umbrella of enormous size. From the very top of the dome another shape formed, one almost human in appearance but disgustingly distorted. Its head was far too long, its arms a mere collection of the flying wisps, and its torso disturbingly thin and tall.

In its complete form the heartless looked oddly like an elegant woman wearing a round ball gown. A hideous woman at that; its skin was sickly black, its face featureless and its hands three-fingered and flat as paper. The heartless turned with a flourish to face Roren and his friends, the dress it wore billowing out over the ground.

"She's quite the beauty, isn't she?" Malhock's voice called. He was standing on the wide shoulder of the monster, grinning down at the four friends with unveiled satisfaction. "The Black Dress is my ultimate creation. I gathered together all the heartless that my Shadow Pools produced to form this dark lady, and I must say she is very striking."

He leered at Roren from his high pedestal. "Just the woman I need to steal your heart, eh lover-boy?"

With as little motion as possible Roren drew the thin blade from his cane and stood up. His eyes never left Malhock's face as he raised the sword out in front of him, a subtle acceptance of the monstrous challenge.

The nobody laughed. The order given by this sound, The Black Dress drew back its wiry arms, raised them above its head and with an unearthly howl slammed them down on the ground. Dust and chunks of stone flew up from the impact, but Roren was long gone by the time the debris settled. He was running toward the heartless, heedless of his crippled leg while Sora, Riku, and King Mickey kept pace behind him.

Sora and Riku leapt high into the air on either side of the heartless, while Roren and The King attacked from the dead center. Four weapons sliced at the body of the monster, the four fighters turning and slashing from four different directions before they landed back on the earth. Pausing only to find balance they attacked again, setting off wave after wave of assaults on the dark creature while the seemingly dumbstruck monster moved in sluggish and harmless retaliation.

After several minutes of straight on battering the heartless became frustrated, but not even the slightest bit of wear showed on it. With a screech it whirled its arms out around its sides, creating a wind mill that threatened to bat the pesky attackers out of the sky. The King managed to push off the monster's body and flip away, but Sora and Riku did one better.

Riku slid down the side of the Black Dress' skirt, digging his blade through the fabric until the weapon caught and he stopped, daggling high over the ground. Sora was close behind him, and as Riku swung out he caught his friend's arm, both of them swaying back in a long arch then swinging forward again. At the top of the swing Riku released Sora's arm, sending him flying back up toward the heartless' spinning arms.

Sora shoved his key blade straight up as he rose, and by some freak skill or pure luck, managed to catch the blade in-between the monster's hands and stop it cold. The heartless jerked back in shock, and Sora was able to smash the keyblade at its head hard before he began to descend. Furious The Black Dress swiped at him, but he rotated enough to slip away from the hit. Instead he caught onto the wiry wrist, and once he righted himself, started running up the heartless' arm.

Resting for a moment on the ground, Roren proudly watched his friend's wry evasions, a smile flickering on his lips. He took a second to observe the monster more closely and with a shock he realized that the skirt of the creature was printed with a disturbing pattern. He saw people, hundreds of figures in the folds of the fabric. Their bodies displayed agony, fear or despair, and with a sinking heart he saw too that he recognized many of their faces. There was Elijah, his good friend who had been taken by the heatless months ago, depicted lying on the ground just the way he had been that miserable day. He spotted Jonah, sleeping in his chair with his feet up on the windowsill. Roren remembered his hand resting over his heart the very way it was in the picture. Finally, as The Black Dress turned he saw the representation of Kari sewn into the skirt. Her long hair draped over her drooping head, a hand rested on her shoulder; Roren's hand.

His image was incomplete, but it was there. Among all the illustrations of lost hearts in their final moments, Roren saw himself. Shuddering, he wondered how it could be. He knew he was standing there in the clearing, he had run, and fought. He was _not_ a heartless, not yet. But was he close?

_Could the seal really be broken?_ He wondered. _Can I lose my heart a little at a time?_

He did not have time to wonder more, because all at once the attacks of the heartless became wilder and more disastrous. The Black Dress howled continuously, and beat the ground with its hands so ferociously that none of its attackers could get close enough to hit back. Slipping around from the side, King Mickey tried to strike the dark creature, but the monster swatted him away with a fierce whip of its hand. The King soared back and crashed into the trees, not emerging even moments later, but the heartless paid him no mind and continued to scream and drum on the stony ground.

Distraught, Roren rallied his remaining friends and resumed his assault on the Black Dress, trying his best to ignore the portrayals of his fallen friends as he attempted to stay clear of the flying limbs of the monster.

He dashed back from one whooshing hand, but the shadow over his head told him that the second was falling on him. He jumped back, but the hand crashed down with a pulse that knocked him off his feet. Though it only lasted a heartbeat, Roren became helpless, and it was all the time his enemy needed. One shadowy finger slammed into his chest and he was knocked back several yards. He tumbled to a stop, but the heartless wasn't finished with him.

All of the wisps that made up the arms of the monster suddenly tore apart from each other, each becoming a smaller, individual hand. All of the hands made fists and with terrible force and speed came crashing down on the vulnerable young soldier. Like thousands of sinister black arrows the hands descended, cutting through the air on their short, destruction-bound journey.

Roren braced himself, eyes closed tight and arms crossed protectively. To his surprise only a few of the hands hit him, he felt some oddly light taps on his upper arm and one or two little smacks on his leg, but there was a disturbing lack of pain for an attack that should have killed him. He opened his eyes and saw another shadow hovering over him and for a moment he feared that more hands were on their way. He caught his breath when his eyes focused, for standing between him and the murderous fists was Sora.

As dread sank through his shock, Roren noticed the extreme familiarity of this scene. Four years ago Kate had protected him this very same way from another giant heartless, and for it she had lost her heart. Sora knew nothing of her sacrifice; he had been knocked out only a short time before, but looking at him now Roren could hardly believe that he friend wasn't trying to recreate Kate's heroic act.

Sora's face was taught with pain just as Kate's had been, sweat dripping off his nose to fall onto Roren's lap. His bright eyes squinted through plump tears and a broken smile pulled at his mouth. His long bangs deepened the shadows around his face as he fought not to grimace in front of his friend.

"What…" Roren gulped, his words catching as his throat tightened, "what have you done?"

Sora shook his head, and then his arms fell limply to his sides and he collapsed forward. Roren lurched up and caught him, his arms shaking with sickening grief. The lifelessness Roren felt in Sora's limbs as he folded to the ground was like a bullet shot into the mind of the mortified soldier. His hand supportively pressed into Sora's back, and there he could feel the gashes and wounds from the hands of the heartless.

Roren found that he was holding his breath, but he also found that it was hard to breathe. His mind started to surge in and out of his control as he gently laid Sora on his back. The pulsing he sensed confirmed that the seal around his heart had indeed been broken; this final loss had ripped away the barriers around The Noble Heart, and he could feel its power beginning to rise within him.

He began to stand, though no part of his own mind called for such an action. He was losing control, and as he stood he gripped Sora's arm with the last conscience emotions he could muster.

Riku had seen Sora run over to Roren's aid, though Riku himself had been too far away to even call to either of his friends. He was once again sliding down the skirt of The Black Dress, and had landed just when the attack had hit home. Straightening he saw Sora toppling over; his disbelief rendering him unable to even speak.

Now his wide-eyed gaze was turned with a reluctant jerk back to the heartless. Furious that its assault had failed, The Black Dress began to flail all of its thousands of arms around in the clearing, the hands whipping around like a multitude of stinging birds. Riku had to shield his face with his arms to avoid being completely cut apart by the hands as they slashed randomly through the air. They slapped his face, punched him and sliced his skin until he was rendered absolutely defenseless. There were simply too many of the wisps, so many that they created a net in the sky and in all the space between, a web so thick that Riku could hardly see. All the while The Black Dress screamed, the sound raw and riddled with the darkest rage.

Shaking, Riku knelt to the ground, shielding himself by tucking his arms in close to his head. The hands smacked his back, but he bravely ignored them, his mind numbly replaying an image of Sora falling until he thought he would pass out.

Suddenly Riku was overcome by a powerful but unfamiliar sensation. An emotion washed over him and wandered into his heart, but he had no idea where it came from. It was a bitter-sweet feeling, as deep as the pits of the sea and as mournful as the aftermath of a catastrophe, yet it was laced with streams of something like joy. He did not feel dismayed by it, but he welcomed the wandering emotion, wishing that it would run to him faster. He thought there was something fulfilling inside those rolling waves of sorrow, and no matter how much of the emotion he received, he could only desire more. It calmed his fretting, and he was able to relax his mind enough to have a clear thought.

Riku peeked out from his crouched position. The hands were still flying around the clearing, but now their speed was slower than the rise of the sun. They appeared to have stopped, and for a few moments Riku could not understand why. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving with an almost normal speed and he focused on it.

_Roren!_

Riku watched tensely as Roren strode over to the edge of the pool where the heartless had emerged, both of his legs supporting him as if they had never suffered a hurt. His face was blank, void of expression save for his eyes. Tears flowed like a fountain down his face while his dark gaze emanated enough sad emotion to fill even the greatest canyon.

Riku was speechless. What was this power, this light that had frozen such a mighty heartless? He wondered if somehow it all came from Roren, and even as he stared at the formally broken young man he realized that it must have. _The Noble Heart,_ he thought quietly, _this is it then…_

Riku blinked and tears of his own dropped from his eyes. He sniffed and watched as Roren stopped before the feet of The Black Dress and opened his hands. Gradually the emotion grew even more powerful and with it the pure light that filled the clearing surged into unworldly brilliance.

Smiling and weeping Riku silently urged Roren on. The heartless stood like a statue as the great light overcame it, breaking into every dark piece of its terrible form. Roren stayed in place, his eyes upraised but his face still bare except for the endless tears he shed to the ground. The light swelled, not blinding but devotedly encompassing.

Soon enough Riku lost sight of both The Black Dress and Roren, and eventually he could no longer see the hands of the heartless, though they were only a few feet away. Closing his eyes Riku relaxed, letting this sweet sensation soak though every bone, a feeling of safety around him on every side.

Riku's eyes snapped open when he heard a ravaged screech tear across the clearing. He first saw Roren standing by the pool of darkness, his arms still held as if in welcome and his face empty of any illustration of his thoughts. Riku guessed that this was because the young soldier did not have any thoughts at that moment, only that one overpowering emotion.

The scream sounded again, and Riku slowly turned his head to look around. He saw Sora, and his heart leapt to see his friend actually sitting up, his gaze fixed on Roren's back. Riku open his mouth to call to him, but his words did not have time to leave his lips before he was interrupted.

"Useless! They're all USELESS!" came Malhock's livid voice. "What does it take to steal one heart?! "

Confused, Riku turned about, searching for the nobody while a small rage began to build in his mind. When he perceived the shuffling of feet he glanced behind him, but it was King Mickey that he saw emerging from the brush.

"Your Majesty," Riku said hoarsely. "You're alright."

The King nodded and laughed abashedly. "Guess I got knocked down pretty hard, huh? I had the strangest dream…I just saw all this light everywhere, but I couldn't see anything else."

"That was no dream," Riku started.

Malhock's voice sliced through the air once more. "I have to do everything myself!" He raged. "I don't know why I'm even bothering anymore, what could be the use if all heartless do is fail?!"

Still Riku could not locate the nobody no matter where he hunted for him; his calls seemed to be coming from every direction. Mystified, Riku turned to ask The King.

"_DON'T!_"

Sora's stricken cry drew the gazes of both Riku and The King, but they saw that he was still looking toward Roren, fear and rage crumpling his face.

At last Riku saw Malhock as the nobody stood by Roren at the edge of the shadowy pool. Malhock bared his teeth like a crazed wolf at the young man, but Roren didn't acknowledge him. He stared up, eyes still shedding a few small tears while he remained motionless as the mountain behind him.

Malhock raised his hand and still Roren didn't move.

"_DON'T!!!!!!" _Sora wailed even louder than before. Weakly he tried to rise, but fell back to his knees. "_PLEASE! "_

Malhock's intentions struck Riku all at once, and he jumped to his feet to stumble toward the pool with what strength he could find.

His fang-like teeth crushing together in a vile scowl, Malhock pushed Roren hard in the back. With no resistance offered, Roren fell into the dark pool face first and in a moment sank through the shadows and was lost from sight.

Riku tackled Malhock only a second later, pinning the nobody down and furiously shaking him so that his head bobbed back and forth and smacked the ground. His anger was so great that Riku didn't even notice Sora shuffle franticly over to the edge of the pool and cry into the depths for an answer from their friend. The only response he received was the tiny flash as a small burst of light vanished before his eyes.

Staring helplessly into the dark, none of the remaining friends felt the rain that had begun to fall.


	9. Rhen

**AHHH! This is so exciting! Rhen has finally arrived! He's possibly my favorite character just because he's so sweet. But like it says on his character map, his story is almost as sad as Roren's. It's just shorter. Whoo! Oh that's right, I already have a character map up for him on my profile, so take a look at that when you have the time. (That was fast right? Actually I made Rhen's map first, and I've just been holding back on posting it until he came into the story. But I wonder if anyone really looks at the maps for all the work I put into them...ah, well, I'd do it even if no one saw them.)**

**Anyway, this chapter is a mite shorter than the others (sorry they were so long!) but now I can start mixing things up. There are only two characters left to introduce in the next few chapters, and then the twists really set in, so look foreward to that! But enjoy what we've got for now. Leave comments if you like (cus I would like it) and I'll see ya soon!**

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**8**

**Rhen**

The first thing he became aware of was the cold; an impression of slime on his skin that sat and rotted in his bones. His gut suddenly churned and his fingers clenched, all his muscles tightening in an unpleasant way. It quickly passed, but he was a little frightened by the spasm as it was uncontrollable and unfamiliar.

_Shiver._

He recalled the word and relaxed. Now he knew it was nothing to fret over.

But…what was this that kept smacking his…_face_? He paused, all attention pinpointing on that gentle pattering and slowly he drew its name out, like waiting for a small sliver of wood to rise to the surface of a pool.

_Rain. It's raining._

A swell of pride bloomed in his mind at this recollection, and he searched out other things to identify.

He discovered his _hand_s, his own _head_ where sopping _hair_ stuck to his brow. He ran his tongue over each of his teeth, counting all thirty-two rock-like pearls and rejoicing over every number he remembered how to count.

Finally he noticed his eyes. He realized that they were closed and as he lay quietly the concept of sight came to mind. Excited, he tried to part his eye-lashed lids and take a peek at whatever lay beyond the swimming dark.

"_I can only assume the worst…"_ an airy voice sighed through his mind and he froze.

Even staining with his newly found ears the only thing he heard was a soft rustle. He waited, patient and a little fearful.

He registered a different sound, something different than words but with just as much power. Muted, shaking breaths and gulping hic-ups heard from both far away and by his side. The sound gripped him, and he immediately felt a pulse of concern fused with guilty curiosity.

_Who's crying? _He wondered.

The breeze of a voice sounded again. "_Sora…I lost him. I've lost them all…"_ it said, and then paused. "_But…I lost others first. There was one…one I never thought would go…that one, I never saw disappear."_

He hesitated, wanting to speak but struggling to find for the words. While he hunted the voice continued to speak; laced with prickling despair that made his throat tight.

"_I'm better here…living is dying, so I end up here. Never left the dark, you fool. You never left. Never will leave. Stay, and why not? It's easier not to fight back. Lay down, and stay…"_

Driven by a small panic, he spoke the only words that would come. "Where are you?"

A tangible feeling of surprise made his hair stand on end. Hope stirred somewhere in the dark, and with this little spurt of inspiration he called again.

"I'll find you, tell me where you are."

"_Find me?" _the voice asked as if in disbelief. _"Would you? Find me...yes! Find me! I'm here, right here!"_

He waved his arms, instinct helping him move though he had no idea if he was going anywhere. He had yet to open his eyes, but he feared that if he did he would not be able to find whoever he searched for. So he waded blindly through the dark, no sense of place or direction to guide him or say where was up or down, but only the constant pat of rain on his shoulders and face.

He became uncertain in the silence. "Where are you?" he asked again, afraid that he was alone.

"_Did I lock you away?" _the voice was now unquestionably closer. _"Or did you hide? It doesn't matter. You're here…"_

"Did I…leave?" he questioned both himself and the voice.

"_I don't know. You faded away."_

He felt a twitch of confusion at this and more questions rose. "Wait. Who am I?"

The voice did not answer for a long time. It seemed to be thinking, or delaying an explanation. _"Who are you? How could you understand…To me…to me you are too valuable to lose._ _And yet lose you I did. Because I am a fool."_

"I don't think so," he said kindly. He greatly wished to see who he was talking to, sure that he would recognize the face he would glimpse. Maybe then this strange conversation would make sense.

"_But no,"_ the voice went on firmly. "_I destroyed you first. Then I rebuilt you, and then you vanished."_

The desire to open his eyes grew stronger and he had to wrestle just to remain it the dark a few moments longer. "I don't understand. What do you mean _destroyed_?"

When the voice spoke this time, it was clearer, almost real. "_You could protect them. You should. Will you?"_

He became even more uncertain. "Who? Who am I supposed to protect?" He almost gave in and took a peek, but squeezed his eyes shut again at the last second.

"_All of them. They'll just appear, and somehow you know."_

"But how? I don't undersand anything you're saying."

Quiet settled in, and thinking the speaker had left, he pushed his eyes open. He was immediately floored by a swarm of hundreds of incomprehensible sights; things he did not know, things he recognized but could not name, and with them all came thoughts that were not his own. Warnings, knowledge and information crashed in from every direction and his mind shuttered like an unsteady bridge.

In the chaos, while facts and belief tossed about like a stack of paper in the wind, he heard the voice call again.

"_Tell the—…ore—hello…"_ thewords flickered in and out, and he only caught pieces. "_Sa—I ---iss—em."_

"But I don't understand! Who are they, and who are you?"

"_We—same---me…--y-you…I am---r—en…"_

Frantic, he called again for answers, but he soon understood that the voice was fading out too quickly.

"_Y—u...are—r—en…"_ were the last words he could make out.

For some time after he could do little more than lay still, staring at what he thought must be the sky. His mind buzzed as he tried to sort through all he suddenly knew, but when everything finally settled where it may, he was able to think on those broken calls.

"You are…what?" he muttered. "ren…r_e_n…" he flipped the fractured word over and over, approaching it from every angle to try and make sense of it. "You are ren…rhen. You are Rhen?"

He licked his lips. "Rhen. I am Rhen?"

Having reached a satisfactory conclusion, he wearily rubbed his face with his hands and closed his eyes once more. Slowly he drifted into sleep, ignoring the ever dropping rain as he slipped away.

* * *

The journey home was a depressing one. No one spoke, except for the occasional mutterings from a helplessly distraught Sora as he stumbled along at the back of the line.

His back was a wash of pain, every muscle sore and his torn skin constantly protesting his every step. But it was his mind that seemed to be hurt more than his wounded body. The image of a blank faced Roren tumbling into the dark was stuck before his eyes like a blindfold. He felt like he was being stabbed every time he conjured up the sight of the tiny flash of light drifting up from the pool. It had undoubtedly been the essence of Roren's heart as it was lost, but the fact that it had been so small troubled Sora deeply.

It seemed that Roren had fallen, or perhaps been pulled, so far down into the dark that even his heart could not find the surface. Only a speck of light had escaped.

To Sora it was hard enough to accept that Roren was gone, but knowing that what remained of his wandering heart was likely trapped in endless darkness was what made his mind ache. Sorrowful, his face crumpled with grief, Sora obediently followed his two friends on the path home.

The friends passed The Millstone without a word or pause. Though they were all exhausted and the day was clearly waning no one was interested in stopping. There was something comforting in the methodical left-right-left-right march, and to stop would mean the end of the distraction. While they walked at least they could think about putting one foot in front of the other.

As they began to see the lights of town glittering in the distance, the group suddenly stumbled upon an unexpected fellow traveler.

Up the road was Halvi, and if that wasn't dumbfounding enough, there was someone else with her. Sora could hardly believe his eyes, for sitting by a small fire was Kari, a heavy blanket around her shoulders and a steaming mug in her hand.

Halvi turned to them as they approached, and smiled with a bright expression of relief.

"I am so glad you are all okay!" she cried as she gave each of them a hug.

Sora returned her smile with a miserable stare. Taking his hand, Halvi led him over to the cheery fire and told him to sit down.

"Oh Sora," she whispered and gazed into his face, "you look absolutely heartbroken. Did you not defeat the heartless?"

He nodded. "We did, but Halvi…" he looked up at Kari and stopped. "I thought you were gone."

"I came back," Kari said.

Sora dropped his face into his hands. _Roren would have been so happy to see her,_ he thought. He began to wonder how he could ever tell Kari what had befallen her dear friend when she solved the problem for him.

"I know that Roren's gone," she murmured. "I was part of that horrible monster; I saw everything so you don't have to worry about breaking the news to me."

"What do you mean you were 'a part of the monster'?" Riku asked. He held his hands out over the fire, quelling the cold that held his hands.

Kari shook her head. "I became a heartless after that shadow-pool latched onto me. The next thing I knew I was seeing the four of you fighting the Black Dress. I know what you did for Roren, Sora, how you saved him, but I guess it wasn't enough."

Numbly, Sora thought about what she had said. The more he thought, the more a fleck of hope began to grow inside him. "So Kari, how did you manage to come back once you were a heartless?"

She smiled. "It was the strangest thing. When Roren got up and did whatever magic he was using to destroy the heartless, I started to…sort of fade away. I could feel this sadness, but when I next opened my eyes I found myself on a road. I was part of a huge crowd of people, and we were all going in the same direction, but I didn't know where we were headed or how long it would take to get there. We just walked."

"A few minutes later I saw Roren on the road too, except he was walking against us. He looked at me when he passed, but only for a second, and then I couldn't see him anymore because there were so many people. I guess that I was returning from the dark, while he was going in. I was getting my heart back, but he was losing his."

Riku crossed his arms. "You say there was a crowd? Maybe you aren't the only one who's regained their heart. It could be that all those people who lost their hearts to the shadow-pools have just gotten them back."

"If that's the case," King Mickey added, "then there must be a whole mess of confused people around. We have to find a way to get all those poor people back into their old lives!"

Everyone seemed to droop with the prospect of such a daunting task.

"That is something we can worry about tomorrow," Halvi said. "For now, we need to get you three patched up and fed. You have obviously had a very hard day."

While Halvi busied herself with preparing three more meals, Riku and The King cleaned and bandaged their hurts. Sora needed a bit more help to care for the severe injuries on his back, and Kari easily stepped up to the task. She gently washed each gash with practiced grace, and she and Sora talked quietly while she worked.

"Are you doing alright, Sora?" Kari wondered. The wounds were far less distressing once most of the blood was scrubbed away, but Sora would probably have a very hard time moving for a while yet. Every inch of skin was torn, scrapped or deeply bruised. Nothing too serious if properly cared for, but the young keyblade master would be sore for many weeks because of the injuries.

"Just thinking," Sora muttered.

Kari finished cleaning the gashes and pulled out a roll of bandages. Carefully she began winding the bandage around Sora's torso, passing the roll to him under his arm so he could pull it snugly over his chest.

"Do you think Roren's gone for good?" he asked, handing her the roll. "I mean, maybe he can come back just like you did."

Kari wasn't sure what to say. She had been wondering the same thing, but now she was also wondering if such thoughts were just ways of denying the truth. "I think there may be hope for him yet," she said at length. "But, do you even know how to bring him back?"

Sora shrugged. "I'm sure we can find a way. I was a heartless once too, and I came back because of my friends. I'll bet we can do the same thing for Roren."

"You just have to find him, right?"

"Right."

Kari tied off the bandage and cut away the loose strands. _Easier said than done,_ she thought silently. _I have a feeling that it will be much harder to bring Roren back than he thinks. Even if we could find him, I don't know if he would _want _to return. He didn't last time._

But she said none of this out loud. Halvi passed out bowls of hot soup for everyone to eat now that all their injuries were dressed, and the hungry travelers found that once they started eating they could not stop until they were entirely filled. Now clean and fed, exhaustion finally set in, and Riku, King Mickey and Kari gratefully laid down for sleep.

Sora remained awake long enough to ask Halvi the same question he had posed to Kari. She had a similar answer.

"It is not impossible," she said. "But it would be a very difficult venture. It all depends on how far he's been taken. If Malhock has anything to do with this you can be sure that finding Roren will be especially complicated."

Sora felt a sting of resentment as he thought of the cruel nobody. Malhock had managed to slip away in the storm, but he probably would not have escaped if any of the three companions had been aware enough to stop him. They had all been numb from losing Roren so shamefully.

_He was helpless,_ Sora's thoughts raged. _Roren wouldn't have hurt a helpless person. It just shows what a jerk Malhock really is._

Dark and vengeful thoughts burning in his mind, Sora bid Halvi goodnight and went to bed.

Sitting by the dimming fire, Halvi somberly thought over what Sora had asked her. As she wondered distantly how to go about finding Roren she suddenly felt a stirring in her mind. She looked up, waiting for another sign.

She felt the shift again. It was almost like a call, a warning. They had arrived, she realized. Both of them.

She closed her eyes and focused, straining to find more information on these new arrivals into her world. Slowly she pulled the pieces together, and as the picture became clear in her mind she began to realize what was about to unfold.

"Solhis," she mouthed one name. Tilting her head, she drew out the name of the second mysterious person. "and…Rhen…"

* * *

It had been four days since the battle with The Black Dress, though for Sora and his friends it felt more like months. Each day was long and full of labor; organizing the thousands of people who had returned from the dark and resituating them all back into their old routines. There were still a handful of people who still needed to be found, and the lists of jobs was endless.

The army had a huge task of its own with the huge influx of soldiers returning to the ranks who now needed to be trained, fed and given adequate housing. All of the young recruits were dismissed from their training regimen and scheduled to return home when they could, but the transition left everyone overwhelmed and cluttered.

While he worked to reintegrate folks into their families, Sora was constantly thinking about how to bring Roren back as well. He often stopped to talk with those who had returned from the dark to ask them about their experience, only to find that all of them merely repeated what Kari had told him. Though most of them had not seen Roren walking by, there were a few who had. Jonah, Roren's friend from Rommora, was one of the ones who had seen him, and he claimed that he even try to stop the Roren from leaving.

"He's always dreamed of doing crap like this," Jonah said haltingly. He was trying to speak the native language of Nelvin, but he was still learning. Usually Roren and the other soldiers would speak to him in Rommoran, but he was making an effort to learn the Nelvin language for their sake. "As long as I knew him he was constantly...what is it? _Self-sacrificing_." He said the last word in Rommoran, though as the Keyblade master Sora understood all languages anyway.

Jonah sniffed indignantly. "That jerk," he grunted. "What does he think he's doing leaving us like that?"

Sora blinked. Jonah was definitely a unique personality. Rough and mocking, he had trouble getting along with some of his peers, but he also had an unexpected amount of compassion. It was clear that he had a great respect for Roren, and the news that his friend was gone had struck him surprisingly hard.

The days went on, and eventually the majority of people had been easily returned to their former lives. Once they were unburdened of the responsibility of cleaning up the mess the heartless had made, Sora, Riku and The King now had to decide what they were going to do next. An attempt to find Roren was desirable for everyone, but King Mickey admitted that he did have other obligations that he could not ignore.

"If you want, Riku and me can look for Roren by ourselves," Sora offered.

"Well, I'm starting to think that's the way it'll have to be," The King said sadly. "I can't hang around much longer. I've got important things to do back at the castle."

Sora nodded. "We should all go talk to Halvi before you go. Maybe she'll know where we should start looking."

King Mickey's eyes widened. "Oh, no! I think we should just leave Halvi alone for a while."

Riku narrowed his eyes, a little curious. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, no…she's just…uh…having a hard time dealing with Roren's…disappearance…" The King smiled sheepishly, but no one questioned him farther.


	10. Nostalgia

**Hello everyone! Here's a brand-spankin'-new chapter for you. I haven't got much to report; no character maps up yet, but they may be around by the next chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this next bit. See ya soon!**

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9

**Nostalgia**

The many glowing lamps that lit the yard did little to aid Halvi in her struggle to see into the dark of the forest. She watched the spot where the dirt path that led from her front door turned away into the trees, waiting for a shift, a shadow or a twitch in the brush. A twig snapped somewhere in the dark, and for a moment her heart leapt. There was heavy silence, and no matter how long she held her breath and listened she could hear no other sounds but the chirping of crickets in the undergrowth.

Earlier Halvi thought she'd heard voices, disembodied, broken and unintelligible words muted by the leaves in the sky and on the ground. The noises had ceased almost as soon as they had come, and in the end she merely contributed them to the nocturnal creatures that roamed the night.

She shivered a little in the chilly air, and as the quiet stretched on Halvi began to consider going inside. But the moment she turned to open the door a clear, human voice called to her and she stopped.

"Sorry I took so long."

Halvi whirled, blood rushing and senses reeling with surprise. No one was behind her that she could see, but peering into the gloom she could just make out the form of a tall, broad-shouldered person shuffling up to her door. A woman stepped into the poor light, treading over the grass with light feet. She moved closer, nearing the girl while wearing an apologetic smile.

She was a pretty woman, in a rugged sort of way. She had large brown eyes, styled hair and when she paused on the porch she flashed an attractive smile that nearly sang of her confidence. Stiffly she readjusted the burden on her back and laughed.

Halvi caught her breath. The woman was indeed carrying an odd bundle; a young man was draped over her shoulder, sleeping calmly with his head leaning on her neck. His long bangs drifted to and fro over his lidded eyes, and one of his arms dangled limply at his side.

"I almost turned around and came back," the woman said. "I had more trouble finding this kid than I first thought. You didn't tell me he'd be so _crafty_."

Halvi nodded without offering a response. She stared numbly at the boy for a long time, but remembering her manners she quickly turned and led the woman inside.

Gently the woman shrugged the boy off her back and laid him on the improvised bed by the stove. She adjusted his thin legs so that they were properly set on the mattress and then straightened to look down at him quizzically.

Halvi wandered up behind her and gazed at him as well. "Thank you for doing this Mehla," she whispered.

"It was nothing," the woman answered slowly. "Though, I had to be a little rough with him because he wouldn't cooperate. The stubborn little brat will probably be a bit disoriented when he wakes up."

"He is stubborn, then?" Halvi asked lightly.

Mehla glanced at the girl and noted her smile with a drop of amusement. "I was wondering," she ventured, "shouldn't he be, I don't know, taller or older or something?"

"Not necessarily," Halvi shook her head. "Actually he could look like anything at all. I am a little surprised that they look so similar."

The woman sighed, her interest waning. "So, what happens now?" she yawned.

"He is not ready yet to begin the journey, but I can prepare him in a matter of weeks if need be." Halvi tiled her head, holding back her long hair with the tips of her fingers. "Until he is ready, The King will keep Sora and the others busy hunting for the heartless. I shall be talking with him tomorrow about that."

Mehla stiffened, suddenly uncomfortable. "The King knows about all this?"

"Of course," Halvi moved away to snatch up a blanket from the pile by her own bed. "This was all sort of his idea."

Melha watched the girl unfold the blanket and spread it over the dozing boy. When Halvi offered her a meal and tea she declined, saying that she was tired and wanted to return home. Bidding goodbye, the woman turned to leave but paused with her hand on the door knob.

"Before I forget, he told me his name. I'm not sure if I'm remembering it right though." She bit her lip and frowned. "It was something like Remy or Rick…"

"Rhen," Halvi finished.

Mehla stared at her, and slowly she nodded. "That's right. How did you know?"

Halvi shrugged. "I heard him say it. It was a week ago I think, when he named himself, and I heard him do it."

"Ah," Mehla continued to frown but she decided not to press the subject. "Well, goodnight then, Halvi."

"Oh, Mehla," the girl called her back. The woman hesitated at the door, suddenly itching to be gone.

For a moment Halvi's expression was unsettling, but it quickly changed into a simple smile. Mehla relaxed. "Please be careful" Halvi warned. "Malhock is not the only one you need to be looking out for. There is someone else now, someone that I believe is even more dangerous."

"And who would that be?"

Halvi seemed to droop. She turned to Rhen and watched him uneasily before she went on. "He calls himself Solhis. I do not know very much about him, but his connections to Roren are what make him very powerful. He has access to The Noble Heart."

Mehla considered this. "So, he's what? Roren's nobody?"

"I do not know. I cannot be sure which is which at the moment."

"Well… thank you for letting me know," the woman murmured and pushed on the door. "Goodnight."

Halvi watched her leave. Once she was gone the girl strode over, and sliding the bolt, locked the door.

* * *

Rhen found it very difficult to describe his existence. He searched and scoured his mind but could find no explanation or word for why his hands moved when he wanted them to, or why he could see or even for what he saw. After a while he stopped troubling himself over it. For now he was content in knowing that he was sleeping, resting on a soft bed that he had made for himself.

But he realized that he was not lying on his own bed, for what he felt was real fabric, not a pile of hay and torn blankets stolen from the barn of some unknowing farmer. Rhen slowly began to understand that he had been taken away from his hand-made shack, and that he was now somewhere completely different.

Sitting up with a hasty jerk, Rhen twisted his head to stare at all his surroundings and attempted to figure out where he had woken up. He saw wooden walls, sunlight peeking in from small windows, rugs on the floor and countless glittering trinkets dangling from the ceiling and the door frames. There were so many colors in that one room that he felt powerfully overwhelmed. Rhen covered his eyes with the heels of his hands and moaned quietly.

The sound of footsteps silenced him, and he held his breath.

"You are awake!" A girl's voice exclaimed from across the room.

Rhen nodded, but kept his hands up over his face. His eyelids felt heavy, and he could feel a strange and distressing pain in his head. Something gently touched his shoulder and he jumped.

Clenching his teeth, Rhen slid his hands away from his eyes and took a second look at the bright room. The thousands of objects made his mind whirl as their names crashed into his brain. _Cup, pot, shoes, book, stove, firewood, fireplace, fire, lamp , girl…_He glanced up, wincing…_smile…_

"How are you feeling?" the girl asked. She was forcing her voice to be soft, and though it did little to calm Rhen's burning thoughts he was still grateful for her gesture. At least, he thought _grateful _was the word.

"I'm…alright, I guess," he whispered.

The girl leaned over him, still smiling. "My name is Halvi. It is very good to meet you."

Rhen nodded again and rubbed his hands together nervously. "Uhh, I'm…Rhen, well I think that's my name. I'm not sure."

"That's right," Halvi said, "it is a very good name."

He swallowed and forced a quick smile. "Um, Miss Halvi could you…uh, tell me where I am?"

The girl straightened and turned away. "This is my home," she explained as she moved over to the stove. "I had you brought here last night."

"…Why?"

Halvi lifted the lid off a pot on the stove top and looked into it. Steam rose up around her head and shaded her from view. "Well, because you will be far safer here," her voice sounded out through the fog, "and because we need you to do something for us and you need to be prepared."

Rhen frowned. He had trouble understanding what she had said; a few of the words she used were new to him. He found that he knew every word, but it took a few moments for him to remember their meanings.

Once he worked out what "do something for us" meant, he asked Halvi what exactly he was supposed to do.

She didn't answer at first, but stood with the lid of the pot in her hand and her eyes locked on Rhen's face. She bit her lip and said, "You have to bring someone back who is lost."

"Oh. Who is it?"

"Someone you know."

Rhen thought about this, but as far as could tell he didn't know anyone at all, let alone someone who was lost. He remembered a tall woman only vaguely and he abruptly concluded that she was the person Halvi was talking about.

"So, when am I gonna go find this person?" he tried.

Halvi shrugged and turned back to the pot. "When you are ready."

"Oh…" Rhen said again. "Sounds good."

"I think so too," the girl laughed. She walked back to him and held out a bowl of hot soup and a wide spoon. He took the bowl and the spoon, only realizing what he was supposed to do with them a minute later.

Halvi stood close by and watched him dip the spoon into the soup and withdraw a bite. He glanced at her as he cooled the spoonful with his breath, seeing that she was still carefully gazing at him. Slowly he stuck the spoon in his mouth, and then pulled it free empty.

The soup was decent, but as he tasted it Rhen became aware of the fact that it was the very first thing he had ever eaten. It only stuck him as a little odd that he had just come to understand the concept of eating in that moment. He quietly took a second bite.

Halvi had yet to move or even look away from Rhen while he ate, and he soon became uncomfortable. Swallowing his mouthful he said, "Thank you," in a gently questioning tone.

The girl's lips twitched with a half smile, but her eyes narrowed. Finally she sat down by Rhen on the bed and stared into his face with rapt fascination. Rhen shifted uneasily.

"It is so strange," she muttered, "but I look at you, and I feel nothing at all."

Rhen choked on his soup. "Excuse me?" he coughed.

"No, no, it is a good thing," she offered hastily. "For me, it is a very good thing."

"I don't understand what you mean," he said hoarsely as he pulled his arm across his mouth.

Halvi sighed as she considered how to explain herself. "When I am around people…real people, I often feel what they are feeling, or sense what they are thinking. It can be very…wearisome."

"What do you mean 'real people'?"

"Well," she fiddled with the edge of her skirt and hesitated. "People who have…a heart."

Rhen rubbed his chin. "A heart? Do I not have one of those?"

"No, you do not. And neither do I."

Halvi seemed to be more somber after saying this, but Rhen couldn't see what about the statement had disturbed her. He stirred his soup. "Well, I guess we're made for each other. You don't have to feel anything around me, and I get to eat good soup."

She stared at him, and he grinned back at her. Suddenly she stared laughing, and for a moment they sat and giggled together, their chuckles bouncing around the small, square room. Despite the light touch of joy, their merry emotions soon became dull as if they were being squashed by another darker feeling. A long stretch of silence followed their laughter, and feeling a little awkward Halvi got up and moved away.

"You said that I need to be prepared for what I'm supposed to do," Rhen pressed. "So, how exactly am I, you know, going to get ready?"

"There is not really all that much that needs to be _done_ before you go," Halvi said. "You already know everything you need, but you just need time to remember it all."

Rhen thoughtfully tapped his spoon on the edge of his bowl. "Will I remember what I'm supposed to do? Who I'm supposed to find?"

"I hope so, but I cannot be sure." She stared out the window and rubbed her arms. "I also hope that when you do know, you will be willing to go through with it."

Quietly Rhen finished his dinner and didn't ask any more questions. When he was done Halvi took his empty dish and set it by the wash bucket while he took his turn to stare at the outside world.

"Would you like to hear a story?" Halvi asked. "We can go outside."

Rhen shuffled closer to the window and glanced warmly at the trees in the yard. "Sure."

Outside the house Rhen felt more at home and he instantly relaxed. He knew the trees, the grass and the dirt well; he had first woken up in a forest, and much of his first days were spent milling around in the brush or clambering through the tree branches. He greatly liked Halvi's many hammocks, and was especially attracted to one that hung like a basket from a sturdy branch high over their heads.

"You may call it yours if you wish," Halvi said lightly when he commented on it.

While Rhen climbed the swaying rope ladder and crawled into the basket, Halvi rolled herself into a simple blue hammock just below him. Rhen felt elated to be up so high among the trees, and at first he didn't notice that Halvi was talking to him.

"This is incredible!" he called to her.

She smiled, rocking slowly back and forth. "So, about the story."

"Oh, right. Go ahead. I can hear you just fine."

For a moment Halvi paused, considering how to begin. Rhen waited patiently, gazing through the leaves and looking for birds or squirrels. Once Halvi began to speak he found himself enraptured by the story, and as she told it he wondered at the longing feeling it stirred within him.

"Roren Agnellus had already lived a hard life before he even met Sora, I can tell you; I know all about it. His father was a soldier, captured by Rommorans while fighting on a battlefield, so many people went ahead and assumed that he was dead, even though Roren would not…"

* * *

Sora returned to the ruins by himself fairly often. He would pace back and forth through the mines, reliving the day he and his friends had spent fighting their way through each chamber and wandering thorough the dark tunnels. He thought over every word the nobodies had spoken, finding what Drhi had said to be increasingly agitating.

Neither Malhock nor any of his partners were anywhere to be found, and it was clear that they had either fled or gone deep into hiding. It didn't matter much to Sora at this point where they were, none of them were the one he was concerned about.

No matter how he thought about it, or how much others tried to convince him, Sora could not bring himself to accept that Roren was beyond reach. He would agree that his friend was indeed drifting away from them, but he claimed that there was still time to save him. His arguments fell on sorrowfully deaf ears or the ears of those who were blocked from hope by some other fear.

Even Kari was less than optimistic about Roren's condition. Sora thought she would have been one of the strongest supporters of an expedition to find him, but it was as if she was holding back. Jonah was more helpful, but he too held a heavy heart and a closed mind. Riku didn't say much for either side, and The King had only said to "wait" before he had left the world completely. Sora didn't much like having to wait, and he found that frequent trips to the place of Roren's passing were the only things that satisfied his restless spirit.

It was during one of these outings that Sora began to feel that the need to rescue Roren was greater than ever. As he stood by the dark pool in the heart of the ruins he knew he could sense a pull, or a call perhaps, coming from the depths of the shadows.

Suddenly the pool rippled, and before his eyes a man walked out of the darkness and stepped onto the grass. Sora stared at him in utter shock, his mouth hanging open but his cry silent. The man stretched and lazily turned to face Sora, a disgusted expression making his eyes squint.

"What are you doing here?" The stranger demanded.

Sora found his voice in an instant, spurred on by the threat in the man's tone. "What does it matter to you?" he said.

"I see you around here a lot. This is my property, not yours."

Setting his fists on his hips, Sora defiantly glared at the man. "I don't care. I'll come here whenever I want. You don't own this place."

"Yes I do," the man growled. Sora didn't falter under his burning gaze. The stranger sniffed indignantly and crossed his arms. "Listen kid, I'll give you a warning this time. Get lost. This place belongs to me, and if I ever catch you snooping around here again, that pretty face of yours will be permanently marked with the imprint of my boot."

"Like I said, I'm gonna come here whenever I want." Sora assured him. "I don't know who you are, but you're not going to stop me from doing what I want to."

The man's cut his eyes at the boy fiercely. "Like_ I_ said, this is my property. So you better get your skinny butt out of here before I have to start getting rough."

Seeing that this conflict wasn't going to end neatly, Sora decided to leave and return at a more favorable time. He began to walk away without a word, an obstinate quality to his stride, when the man spoke again.

"And don't go thinking you're gonna get your friend back either." His words stopped Sora cold. "He's my property too. He belongs to me, and I don't take kindly to thieves."

Sora clenched his fists and slowly turned around a half-step. "Roren is nobody's _property,_" he hissed.

The man laughed, a sound that was so hollow it made Sora's knees weak. "That's what I just said, kiddo."

Shaking off his unease, Sora took three quick steps back toward the pool. "Where is he? What have you done to him?"

"That," the man muttered, "is none of your business. But…" he paused to smile hideously and watch Sora fume, "but, maybe we'll let you take him back once he's empty. Right now it's two against one, and the odds are not in your favor. It'll be much better if you just wait until he can't fight back, then you can take him home and prop him up in a chair like an ugly old trophy."

"What did you say?!" Sora hollered. He whipped his right hand out and summoned his keyblade. "If you hurt him, I swear I'll make you pay! Tell me where he is, now!!!"

Shaking his head, the man moved toward the pool with and easy pace. "No matter what you think, or what he said, the fact is that Roren still doesn't want you around. It's time that you just went home, don't you think? Go home, and let the old soldier die already."

Sora gritted his teeth and lunged at the man. He slashed his keyblade down but the strike missed and he landed on the other side of the pool without even touching his enemy. The man took one step back and quickly slipped into the dark pool; he disappeared in an instant and none of Sora shouts or demands even made the waters stir.


	11. A Promise to a Voice

**Okay, so I've decided: lots of chapters, but all of them will be fairly short. Okay, so that's how this fan fic will work, just in case you're wondering. I love to update, so I'll post often, but none of the chapters will be extremely long. 4,000 words at the absolute max! We'll see where this goes...Anyway, a few more twists in here for ya. If you have any questions, or you're thinking "what's going on here?! This chick is crazy, what's she talking about?" feel free to ask me where the heck I'm going with this...I'll get right back to you, I promise. :) Anyway, enjoy chapter ten, and I'll see if I can update again this weekend.**

**See ya around!**

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* * *

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10

**A Promise to a Voice**

After a span of two weeks of living with and learning from Halvi, Rhen found that he was quickly becoming uneasy and restless. He wanted to explore the forest, to see the rivers and mountains and to encounter the animals that he knew by name, but had never seen. Most of all he wished to begin his pre-destined journey, but he had been told not to leave the yard for any reason. Every day he and would sit in his hammock and listen while Halvi recounted the adventures of Sora, King Mickey, Riku and a dozen other heroes who were no more than names and exciting tales to him. He listened, staring out between the trees, feeling like an unbreakable tether was fastened around his waist.

That was not to say that he didn't enjoy his time with Halvi. Rhen liked nothing more than making her laugh, and she constantly had some craft or project that she was working on. Her hands were always busy braiding, cutting, sewing, cooking. Each new decoration that she created both amazed and troubled Rhen: he loved to see her creativity, but he was also beginning to wonder what he could ever create on his own. As the sun set in the evening he would lay back in his hammock and stare at the sky, fantasizing about the places he would go, the battles he would fight, and hero he could be when he got his chance, but as the days went on, he started to wonder if that chance would ever come.

He closed his eyes as the stars began to show, ignoring the night-time chill for just a few minutes longer.

"Rhen?" Halvi called from below, "Are you going to come inside?"

"…in a minute," he murmured. After a moment he sat up again and looked down on her. "How about a story?" He suggested.

She smiled and silently moved to her normal mount. "I believe I have told you all the ones I know."

"Oh, that's okay," Rhen said reclining again. "I wanted to hear an old one anyways. The one about Roren and the flying city."

"I have told that story twice already."

Rhen shifted excitedly. "But it's my favorite! Please?"

Halvi laughed and acquiesced to his demands, commenting that he sounded like a child. Rhen didn't take any of her insults seriously, and he hardly even noticed that she'd said it. Once she began to speak he could no longer feel the cold, nor see the encroaching night, or even sense his impatient spirit. Something about this character Roren and his exploits seemed to fit with Rhen perfectly. He felt at home, and somehow proud to hear of his adventures. They made him wonder, and sometimes he even sensed a swell of affection for the other characters, for the story itself. He was a little sad when Halvi finished and insisted that they go inside.

Full of energy despite the late hour, Rhen slid over the edge of his hammock and set his foot on the first rung of the rope ladder. It swayed unsteadily under his weight, but Rhen trusted it no to let him fall. He looked over his shoulder at Halvi, who stood by the door and waited for him.

He grinned and laughed, but in the next second it was as if the dark that had spread over the sky suddenly leaked into his eyes. His vision went black, and all strength left his body. No longer balancing on the narrow ladder, Rhen leaned back until he began to fall. Halvi screamed as he plummeted down, smacked into the ground and lay still.

* * *

"You know what this means, it's a good thing." A high pitched, bubbly voice was speaking somewhere nearby. Rhen didn't recognize it, but it sounded friendly.

"I do not see what is so good," the girlish voice that Rhen attributed to Halvi responded. "He fell, and he has yet to wake up."

Rhen pushed himself up and looked around. He was in his bed by the stove, but the house was dark. Halvi and whoever she was talking to were apparently outside on the porch. They spoke quietly, but the tone of their conversation was heavily urgent. At least Halvi's side of the dialogue was. The other speaker came across much more controlled.

Straining to hear more, Rhen moved to get out of bed but was instantly overcome by a wave of dizziness. His legs felt week so he quickly sat down again. From there he could still hear the conversation outside, but only if he focused on every word. He wished that he could stand by the door and listen, but he wasn't sure he wouldn't fall over if he tried to walk, so he stayed put.

"But think about it, Halvi," the other voice went on. "This could mean that Roren is awake, or that he's trying to reach us."

"It could mean other things too. I did not think that Solhis knew about Rhen, but if he does…he might have done this." Halvi answer sounded shrill, almost hysterical.

There was a shuffling as someone began to walk along the edge of the porch. The shadow of the figure flickered under the door frame and Rhen watched it intently. "Well there is one thing we do know now," the other voice said. "We know that we can't wait to send the team out any longer. Whether Rhen is ready or not, it's time for him to do his job."

A surge of exhilaration rushed through Rhen when he heard this. He was finally going to be sent on his way. From the sound of it, he would also be partnered with other people; he would be part of a _team_. He almost cried out from shear excitement, but managed to contain himself.

Then his joy froze when he heard Halvi take a shuttering breath and sniffle. _She's crying_ he realized. All thoughts of dizziness or falling gone, he rushed from his bed to the door in an instant.

"But I do not know if I can send him, your Majesty," she said. Rhen paused, only a step away from flinging the door open. "I do not think I could…I feel, that by doing this I am locking him in a cage."

There was no response for several moments, though all of Rhen's thoughts were begging for an answer to this strange statement. Finally the first voice said, "But this is what he has to do. I know it's hard, but it was the same way for Sora and his nobody. He won't disappear, Halvi. He'll be happier, he and Roren will be."

Rhen's eyes widened. _Roren is a real person?_ He wondered _Do I know him? What's going on?_

"It is not the same," Halvi insisted. "Rhen is not like other nobodies. He may not even be a nobody at all. One of them is and the other is not, though they both hold a part of Roren that he needs in order to return. Solhis is Roren's nobody, but we have no choice but to destroy him. That much is simple. Roren and Solhis can never be rejoined."

Slowly, his hand shaking, Rhen reached out and clasped the door handle.

"But what about Rhen?" the other voice questioned, "Can he bring Roren back?"

"Well, yes. But it is not like with Sora and Roxas. Roren and Rhen will not complete each other. They came from the same heart, but they were never one, and they never will be." Halvi's voice grew increasingly quiet. Rhen turned the door knob. "If they meet, Rhen will not become a part of Roren's mind. He will vanish completely."

The last words were thousand pound weights that came crashing down to drive Rhen through the floor. Stunned, the word _vanish_ running in circles in his head, he let his hand fall from the door. He stared at the grain on the wood in front of him, holding his breath until his lungs begged for air. Outside the conversation continued on, but he no longer listened, and slowly he turned and moved deeper into the house. He missed the edge of his bed as he went to sit down, but once he had landed on the floor he did not have the will to get back up.

* * *

"You do not have to go. I do not want you to," Halvi murmured to herself. She was pacing endlessly across the small room, traveling from the far wall to the stove and back again, over and over. Rhen watched her wordlessly, sitting stone-still with a troubled expression pulling on his face. "I shall have to find another way. I shall go and find Roren myself, and once I see him I can decide what to do."

Rhen shifted in the chair he had been pushed into and asked, "Could you please explain to me what's going on?"

Halvi continued to stride over the room and mutter to herself, completely ignoring the interruption. Rhen tried twice more to get her attention and only then did she respond when he shouted at her.

"Please, Halvi!" He grabbed her arm and forced her to pause. "Tell me what you're thinking. What's making you so upset?"

With a look of confusion and despair Halvi dropped into a seat against the wall. Rhen stood nearby and studied her while she collected herself. Finally she looked up, her hands tightly clasped and her knuckles white.

"All of the stories that I told you were real, Rhen," she said. "I did not make them up. At one time or another all of those things did happen."

He nodded. "I figured as much. I didn't realize it until you and The King started talking about him, but I guess I've always sort of known that Roren was a real person." Rhen sighed and a reflexive smile showed on his lips. "It's kind of cool, really; knowing that the hero I've heard so much about actually exists."

Halvi nodded. "He was a hero. But I am sad to say that his glory has faded."

"Who needs glory?" Rhen cheered. "From what you told me, there are plenty of people who still care about him a lot. Like Kari and his whole team, and Sora and even you."

Halvi glanced at him, her face flushing, but Rhen was looking away from her.

"Roren…is gone now, you realize," she said. "He was taken by darkness, and he has lost his heart. Right now he has no spirit, no way to live or act because so much was stolen when he fell."

"The moment his heart left him two beings were created from his homeless spirit," she went on. "With so much of his heart gone, Roren is nothing but a shell full of stagnant memories. But should either being return that part of him that they possess, he would be able to awaken, and return."

Rhen turned and looked back at Halvi. He smiled sadly and guessed, "I'm one of the two 'beings' that carry his spirit, aren't I?"

"…yes," Halvi said at length. "The other is Solhis, Roren's nobody. He carries the most direct parts of Roren's life: his most recent memories and most powerful emotions. But…Rhen, you are different. You have come from a place that is deeper, someplace complex enough to make you as human as you are."

Rhen closed his eyes and attempted to understand how one life could create two beings. "Does he need both of us in order to come back?"

Halvi shook her head, no. "One is all he needs. One is all he wants…all we want. But, it cannot be Solhis that returns Roren's strength. We cannot force Roren to take back the rotted part of his soul, now that it is gone."

"Then is Solhis…" Rhen wondered, "...is he bad, or something?"

"He took Roren's most powerful emotions when he was created," Halvi repeated. "At that time, Roren's mind was filled with anger, fear and resentment. That is what Solhis is made up of, and because of that he is both wicked and cruel. He must be destroyed, for the good of everyone."

Rhen twisted slightly to stare out the window. "That's what you meant about me being locked in a cage, then. Either I give up my life, return my spirit to Roren, or he never comes back. Or at least he comes back as a bitter, hateful man."

Halvi remained quiet, her thoughts churning like huge waves on the sea. After a time she spoke to herself again.

"I will find another way. There must be another solution…"

His eyes sad, Rhen moved to sit by Halvi's side in the other chair. "Even if there isn't _another way…_I still think that we should do everything we can to bring Roren back."

"But you do not understand," she snapped, "even if you return Roren's spirit, the result will be imperfect. You are not his nobody; there will be thoughts or feelings that will not fit together because you two are different. For everything to be right you will have to surrender and agree to be forgotten. You will not exist in any form, not with him, or with…us."

Rhen licked his lips. "But I was in his mind once, why can't I go back?"

"Oh, how could you understand? How can I explain who you are?" Halvi held her head in her hands and fell silent.

Rhen thought back on the time he had asked that same question. "Who am I," he had questioned the voice in the dark. _To me, you are too valuable to lose, _it had answered_. _The words reverberated in Rhen's mind and for the first time he began to feel torn about his formerly so eagerly anticipated quest. He now knew that Roren was the one he was supposed to rescue, and at first that had seemed like the most noble responsibility that anyone could be entrusted with. But could he go into it knowing that in the end he would disappear? Rhen did not doubt that he held the deepest admiration for Roren, and that his esteem was true, but was it unshakeable? After feverishly brooding on the puzzle at length, he eventually decided that only time could tell the depth of his devotion, and the amount of value he placed on his own life.

The inevitable decision weighed on his mind even as he tried to push it away. It seemed potent enough to be manifested as an emotion, but Halvi had told him before that such a thing was impossible.

After several minutes had passed Halvi got up and suggested that Rhen get some more rest.

"Try not to worry about all of this too much," she said as he obediently scooted between the blankets on his bed. "I will figure out a different way to save Roren, I promise it. You can stay here as long as you want to. You never have to disappear." She looked into his worried face and felt her eyes sting with unbidden tears. "All right?" she tried.

Rhen smiled and Halvi instantly relaxed. "Yes. I'm alright," he answered.

With a final, futile smile, she left him alone in the quiet and the dark. Rhen lay with his eyes open, not feeling even a fragment of weariness. Every time he directed his thoughts away from Roren and his situation, they managed to force their way back to him with invariable strength.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands into his eyelids. _I just need to make a decision_ he told himself. _Decide, and don't waver from it. But…I don't know what to do. What do I do?_

Agitated, he slid out of bed and began to slink around in the dark, distracting himself with the world of shadows. He fidgeted with the countless decorations around the room as he mulled over his options, his commitments, his goals. He weighed his own experiences, his appreciation for Halvi, and his high regard and strange connection to her stories of Roren and his friends. He paced, swayed, shuddered, kicked, and stood still. The night stretched on as he tensely pondered away, no decision within sight.

Finally his thoughts wandered back to his first few moments of existence, when he had drifted in the dark and talked with some unknown soul. _It was him…I was talking to Roren then,_ he concluded with a significant thrill. _He…knew me. He talked to me! He said I was _valuable_ to him._

Rhen began to shake as the horizon slowly grew clear. _He was the one crying…he was so sad. Desperate and hopeless. And I said…I asked him… "where are you?"_

He reached for the wall, clumsily finding it in the shade. Pushing against it for support, he slowly sank to the floor and hugged his knees. He continued to remember his own words as he sat in the dark corner. "_I'll find you. Tell me where you are."_

"_Find me! I'm here, right here!"_

Rhen pressed his forehead into his knees as every bone in his body seemed to tremble. His smallness, his insignificance was plain and terrifying. He saw that he was alone, and the dark was vast. He determined that his time was unjustly short, but some part of him told of breezes that made storms and ripples that made waves. He wrestled with his conviction, trying to solidify it, brace it so that it would not falter or break. He knew what should be done, but he was not sure of what he wanted to do most. He struggled in the gloom for ages, hours, minutes until he knew that he was certain.

A moment later he stood up, cheeks smeared with tears, knees weak, and hands numb. He pushed his feet into the shoes Halvi had bought for him, shouldered the jacket she had sewn for his back, and packed the bag she had crafted so carefully. Silent as a thief, Rhen slipped to the door and stepped outside.

He breathed in the cool air and took a long pause to look at the stars. At last he stepped out onto the path and strolled away from his only home, whispering an earnest farewell and apology to Halvi as he walked into the night.

* * *

It was strange to step from a world wrapped in the night into one that was lit by the day. Mehla had been surprised at first after falling through the dark pool, but once she entered the shade of the forest the effect of the sunlight soon lost its power. It was dark under the trees, almost as thick as the night itself. Even so, the lack of light did not hinder her as she tracked her elusive target.

Mehla followed the trail at a steady and rapid pace. Her face was set with determination, and as she rushed over the undergrowth her hands unconsciously swatted away branches or vines that blocked her way. She could just see him now, standing up ahead.

He had seen her, heard her, and now he was waiting. She slowed and approached cautiously with one hand on her short sword. Knowing that she was forcing him to linger, Mehla made sure to keep her features fierce and stable as a stone wall.

She stopped before the man and regarded him coldly. "My name is Mehla," she said curtly.

The man raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Solhis." He pointed to himself. "What are you doing on my—"

"Property?" Mehla provided the final word. "I'm here because I know what you're doing. I know what else…who else you call your property."

Solhis flashed another smile, though it looked more like a grimace. "You've been talking to that stupid kid. Guess I'll have to kill him just to keep his mouth shut."

"I've talked to no one," she corrected. "I only know what I know. For example, I know what you plan, and who you work with."

"And? Have you come all this way to stop us?" He laughed at the thought.

Mehla sucked in a deep breath through her nose. "No, I'm not here to stop you. I want in."

Solhis looked genuinely surprised for all of a second. Then his mask of spite returned to turn up the corners of his mouth and make his eyes flash with heartless cruelty. "You want in, eh? Why? What will you do for me?"

"We have a common goal," she explained.

"Oh?" he pressed, interested. "What would that be? I have many goals."

Mehla tapped the hilt of her sword. "We both want to destroy someone who threatens us. I want that boy gone, and so do you."

Feigning ignorance, Solhis insisted that she go into more detail. Mehla clenched her jaw and re-strengthened her resolve. "Rhen," she said. "He has something I want, and I need to get rid of him. But if I did, that girl Halvi would have an army on me in a second. I need someone…powerful to have my back."

Solhis crossed his arms proudly and tilted his head. "It is about time that I finally destroyed that useless speck. You say you can do it?"

Mehla nodded. "I can get close to him through Halvi. I could be useful if you wanted to dispose of Sora and the others as well. I've been told that I have a trustworthy face."

He shrugged. "I see no problem here. It will take time, but I suppose you can call yourself one of the nobodies." He chuckled with dreadful amusement. "Allow me to take you to my castle. There we can talk more, and with a good meal, perhaps. I wish to know exactly how you plan to defeat my young brother. I hope you will crush him, but I may want a part in it. I have waited so long to ruin him."

Mehla began to walk with the malevolent nobody but suddenly she stopped. "Wait," she said. "There is one condition." Solhis glanced at her with a touch of malice in his sharp eyes. "I will not be paired with that annoying little punk, Drhi. He talks too much."

Solhis roared with laughter and Mehla had to fight not to flinch away from him. "You are so right," he said.


	12. Into the Dark

**Oh my goodness, I feel like such a lazy person. I should have updated days ago, but I've been...well doing other things. It must be bad if even I'm bored with my own story...sheesh, what am I putting my (few) readers through?! Anyways, I decided to give The Noble Heart II some story steriods, little things we know as "excitement" and "intrigue"...ah, thank God for action sequences. **

**Anyway, this chapter does comply with my 4,000 words or less pledge (it's like 3,980 something. Hehe!) but just as a warning to those of you who like short chapters, don't expect this to last. These next few chapters will be rounding out the story, so they will be longer...I don't know. And I still need to get those character maps up...drat! Learn from my mistakes : laziness only gets you more work, but less time to do it in. *Sigh* I hope you enjoy chapter 11. :)**

**See ya soon!**

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11

**Into the Dark**

Rhen wandered through the night, unsure of where he was going or what he planned to do. All he knew was that he needed to be doing something; he needed to start searching for Roren at that very minute or he would drive himself crazy with anxiety. He found a long dirt road that stretched toward the west and he stared along it.

He tried not to think as he walked, but his mind ran through all the stories he had been told despite his effort to clear it. Walking long, boring distances seemed to be a staple for adventures. He felt a little excited when he realized this similarity to his own journey, and he shuffled along a little faster. He continued on until the cheery sun rose between the grey mountains behind him, warming his back and making his neck sweat.

Eventually he came to a place where the forest fattened enough to reach the road. There was shade under the trees, and Rhen turned off the path to rest under their leafy branches. He chose a large tree with a wide, rippled trunk, but as he approached it he was surprised to see that he was not the only one hiding from the heat.

A young boy was leaning against the opposite side of the tree, sleeping with his chin on his chest and his arms loosely crossed in front of him. His hair was brown and wild, but is face seemed kind. Rhen tried to stay quiet as he came up, and considered moving to a different tree.

Suddenly the boy sneezed and woke. Rhen jumped back with a shout.

The stranger rubbed his eyes and squinted at the sunny world around him. He saw Rhen and paused. Rhen waved sheepishly.

"Hello," the boy said.

Rhen came closer. "Good morning," he replied.

The boy stood up stiffly and stretched, his long arms reaching for the branches overhead. He sighed and yawned while Rhen watched him patiently. Finally the other boy turned around and held out his hand.

"I'm Sora," he introduced himself and smiled.

Rhen shook Sora's hand numbly, his jaw slack with shock. He muttered his own name only after staring at the Keyblade master with wide, admiring eyes.

"What?" Sora chuckled. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, no. It's just…I've heard so much about you…it's such an honor."

Sora blushed. "Well, thanks. You kind of caught me dozing. I was just on my way to the Blue Footed Mountains, but I kind of fell asleep..." He hesitated and did not continue.

"What are you going to do there?"

"I'm looking for someone."

Rhen laughed. "You always are."

"I guess so," Sora rubbed the back of his neck, grinning. He performed a few more stretches to loosen his muscles as he and Rhen chatted. Sora was impressed with Rhen's extensive knowledge of his travels through the different worlds, and he eventually asked where all this information had come from.

"Halvi told me," Rhen explained innocently. "She would tell me stories every day so that I wouldn't get bored. She's really nice."

Sora stared at him. "You know Halvi?"

He nodded. "She's been getting me ready for my journey. I spent a few weeks at her house."

"What journey?" Sora frowned.

The bewilderment on the keyblade master's face made Rhen a little uncomfortable. He wondered how much he should say, but he didn't see any danger in telling Sora what was going on. "I'm supposed to go find Roren Agnellus and give him back his spirit so he can come back to this world."

Sora sat down with a thump, looking the picture of astonishment. He sputtered a few incoherent words of disbelief and shook his head while Rhen worried if he had said too much. Finally Sora managed a question.

"What?"

"I, uh…" Rhen wanted to turn around and walk away, but he felt trapped in the conversation now. He tried to explain himself. "H-Halvi told me that Roren lost his heart…" he started.

"I know," Sora jumped in. "I've been trying to get him back for weeks. No one thinks it's possible."

"Well…it's not. At least not…without me."

Sora sat and listened while Rhen recounted everything he had gathered from Halvi. He began where he had woken up in Halvi's house, and continued on through all his weeks of living with her: the stories, the hammocks, and his disastrous fall. Finally he explained about the two beings, about Solhis, and reluctantly he finished by describing how he would have to give up his own life to restore Roren's.

Sora had interrupted a few times, but now he was absolutely still. He looked away for a few moments, apparently lost in thought. He shifted his feet and tucked them in close to him. When he turned back to Rhen his bright eyes were somber.

"Are you running away?" he asked.

Rhen was thunderstruck by the statement. At first he was offended by the implications of the question, but once he took the time to think it through, he realized that he didn't have an answer. "I guess…I am," he said softly. "But, I'm not sure if I'm running to, or away."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Rhen stared at the grass a few steps away from his feet, watching it sway in the light breeze. He sighed and shook his head. "I want to bring Roren back," he announced, but did not give voice to his other worries. He came to the conclusion that they were impossible to subdue completely, but he could ignore them.

Sora reopened the barely sealed wound. "But won't you disappear forever?"

"Yeah, I will." Rhen closed his eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean—"

Rhen waved a hand dismissively.

A minute passed while Sora watched the other boy carefully, and then he stood up and brushed the seat of his pants. "I'm gonna take off. It'll take the rest of the morning to get to the mine, and another hour or so to get to the ruins." He glanced at Rhen and smiled kindly. "Roren's my friend, and I'm going to bring him back, empty or not. I'm not going to ask you to sacrifice so much for someone you only know from stories."

Rhen remained under the shade of the tree even after Sora had shouldered his pack and started away. He swayed uncertainly, scowled inwardly at himself, and all at once took off after the young hero.

Sora heard his thumping feet behind him and turned around. He waited for Rhen to catch up, and together they set out for the ruins without another word spoken between them.

* * *

"Where do you think it goes?"

Sora shrugged. "No idea."

The two boys stood just at the edge of the dark pool, the sky above them misting as twilight receded into night. They spoke in hushed voices, Sora having warned Rhen about the strange man who had threatened him the last time he had been to the ruins. They both looked into the pool, but neither of them could see into the depths. It was like staring at a shadow on the grass and trying to see past it.

Carefully Rhen reached his fingers into the pool. When nothing happened he dared to explore farther until his entire arm had slipped through the dark.

"It's like mist," he said. "Maybe it can't hurt us."

Sora shook his head. "Falling to the pool is what took Roren's heart. It's pure darkness."

Rhen snatched his hand out of the shadows and held it close to his chest. He thought he could feel slime on his skin. "But that's where he is. If that's where he fell, then that's where I have to go."

"Where _we _have to go," Sora corrected.

Rhen glanced at the other boy and frowned. "But don't you think you'll lose your heart too if you go in there?"

"Probably, but I don't care. I'll just find Roren as a heartless if I have to."

Sora's face was set, his determination solid. It was clear that he was done waiting for the answers to just show up. _I just showed up, _Rhen mused, _and I guess I'm an answer._ He smiled to himself and leaned over the pool.

"We need a way in," he whispered, not knowing who he was talking to. "We need a way to find him."

They waited, watching the shifting water-like shadows intently. Nothing changed and the two boys began to feel a little disheartened. Rhen turned away and strode back a few paces. He faced the trees and closed his eyes tightly. He made his mouth a tight line and forced his knees to stop shaking and his stomach to stop doing cartwheels.

_Come on. Let's go._

He took a long, hissing breath and then spun around before he had even let out all his air. He plowed forward, up to the pool screaming at himself not to stop. He jumped; limbs sprawled and dove into the dark.

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but entering the pool was shockingly painless. It was liken to falling through normal air clogged with fog. Black mist washed in around him and for a time all he could see was the darkness, but then the scene changed again. Light burst in so abruptly that it made Rhen slam his eyes closed. He was still falling, he could feel the air pushing against his back and whipping his hair around his face. He waited for the crash, panic rising as he tried to figure out how to land without killing himself.

What felt like hours was only seconds as Rhen plunged through a murky blue sky and crashed into the waiting arms of a forest of trees. Branches snapped and flew up around him as he tumbled down to the earth. Leaves traced his decent like smoke from a flaming plane, and a few twigs slapped by him so hard that they cut his skin.

Finally Rhen landed. He smacked a thick branch a few yards from the ground and was sent end over end into a large, thankfully thorn-less, bush.

He was so dizzy and pumped with adrenaline that at first he didn't feel any pain at all. The first thing to hit him was a throbbing ache in his head, then his hands twitched painfully, and finally the rest of his body asserted its displeasure. Rhen groaned and twisted to try and free his left leg from under the right side of his hip. The fingers of the bush scratched him, but he could hardly compare such light prickling to the painful discomfort that plagued his bones now.

It was difficult to work free of the bush, and in the end Rhen dropped out face first, followed by his shoulders and then his back and legs. He lay face up, squinting at the trees and clenching his teeth against the pain. His ears were ringing and his vision was blurry, but as he waited he found that his senses were slowly clearing. Things that had been shrieking with discomfort were now no more than mumblings.

Rhen rolled over and pushed himself up to his knees. His head swam, but then righted itself and he was able to look around.

Trees, everywhere there were trees and bushes, vines and moss. There was the faintest touch of sunlight peering through the leaves to brush the ground, but for the most part the forest he now found himself in was as sunless as dusk. Rhen couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, even with his like for the woods back home.

A rustling crash behind him drew Rhen's attention instantly. He whirled around and quickly discovered that quick movements were a bad idea after an enormous fall.

Once his eyes ceased to spin in their sockets, Rhen was able to investigate the source of the noises. He saw only dark green vines as thick as his arm and a few downed trees at first, but then a shadow behind a large trunk shifted and attracted his stare.

"Sora?" He called softly.

The shadow froze, and was still for so long that Rhen began to wonder if he was really seeing anything at all. He too remained as stone, waiting and slowly growing anxious. He held his breath, and for an instant he knew that he was about to be attacked.

A beast leapt of the brush the moment Rhen blinked his eyes. It was massive, with huge paws and claws the size and sharpness of kitchen knives. Rhen felt the hulking weight of the creature shake the ground as it landed only a few feet from him.

Yellow eyes empty of pupils stared him down from either side of a wide nose. Fangs dripped drool, and a heavy, blood red tongue hug out the side of a powerful jaw. Four legs wrapped in stiff grey fir flexed threateningly as the giant wolf crouched before Rhen, malice and hunger rolling out from its body like a malevolent aura.

Rhen's mouth was dry as sand. His eyes could not possibly stretch wider, nor could his knees shake any more wildly. He trembled before this monster and knew that he had come face to face with his first heartless.

_I'm going to die. _

The thought smashed through Rhen's mind and shocked him out of his horrified trance. He scrambled to his feet and fled with all the speed he could muster. He didn't get far.

The wolf-heartless pounced, its immense bulk soaring over Rhen's head even as he ran against it. It landed just before him, throwing up dirt and moss and making the air fume with the scent of dirt. Rhen's feet slipped out from under him as he suddenly tried to reverse direction. He fell on his back, smacking his head on the ground. The wolf bore down on him, pressing its muzzle close to Rhen' heaving chest.

Rhen thought that if he had a heart, it would have choked and died in that moment. The monster's horrible eyes flashed and it seemed to be laughing at the terrified boy underneath it. All of Rhen's body shook as the heartless breathed its foulness over him and he could offer no resistance as it pressed him down with its paw, crushing him into the earth and digging into him with its claws.

**"Rhen!"**

A burst of flame flew in and smashed into the wolf's head, shattering its concentration on the helpless boy under its paw. Someone shouted _"fire!"_ and two more blazing strikes hit the monster and sent it reeling.

The moment the weight was lifted off of Rhen's chest he shot up and clambered to his feet. He raced in the opposite direction of the heartless and was both astonished and relieved to see Sora standing a little ways behind him.

He stumbled to the other boy's side and slid to a stop. Sora glanced at him and his eyebrows bent deeper into his forehead. "Are you alright?" he barked the question, though his words were still laced with concern.

"F-fine." Even Rhen's voice was shaking. "Wh…what is t-that?"

Sora shrugged. "It's a heartless. I'm guessing there's more than one, too."

Rhen felt his stomach clench when he heard this. "I don't have anything to fight with," he said quickly.

There was no time for an answer. More heartless had indeed arrived.

Four more of the gigantic wolves crept of the shadows, their cruel yellow eyes fixed on the boys with overpowering brutality. They circled Rhen and Sora, all of them drooling hungrily but none deciding to make the first move. They waited, but for what, neither Rhen nor Sora knew.

Off to their left, the first wolf had regained its feet and was shaking off the ashes from Sora's fire balls. It was obviously furious. It growled, and its companions growled back. It prepared to leap, and so did the others.

"That's their leader," Sora told Rhen. "Take that one out first!"

"But I-"

The heartless pounced, and Sora jumped with them. He flew toward the leader and slashed his keyblade down at it, smacking its great nose several times before he landed and rolled between the monster's legs.

Rhen felt a woosh over his head as one of the other wolves flew past him. His focus snapped to the four monsters that had all chosen him for their next meal. Two more of the creatures skipped forward and snapped at him with their fangs, and Rhen retreated back quickly. He tired to watch all four of the heartless, tried to see which would attack next, but it was impossible.

They leapt at him again, and he ducked under them and ran to hide behind the trees. He wished desperately that his hands were not empty; even if he didn't know what to do with a sword or shield, at least he would have a better chance of surviving if he were armed.

The tree cracked as one of the wolves drove into it. Rhen ducked once again and ran for new cover. The wolves pursed him, throwing down the trees that got in their way and tearing up the ground with their sizeable feet.

Rhen reached down and snagged a rock in one hand, and as he passed a tree he paused to rip a vine off its trunk. Then it was time to run again. He didn't want to lose sight of Sora, but it was difficult enough to outrun four wolves even in a large space. He zigzagged in the hope that the monsters would get confused, but all he did was slow himself down.

Suddenly Rhen tripped and felt his feet tug out from under him. He fell face down and the heartless thundered past unaware that he was now behind them. Rhen seized the moment and glanced around. He saw a perfect place to hide, and while the wolves sniffed for him he quietly slipped away down into a space beneath a large boulder. There was just enough room in the burrow for him, and he hunkered down to wait the monsters out.

Not wanting to waste time he took the vine he had grabbed and began to tie it around the stone in his hand. Halvi had shown him many knots that she used in her crafts, though Rhen doubted that she had used any of them to make an improvised flail. The first few attempts to bind the rock and the vine failed; Rhen's hands were shaking so violently that he could barley tie the knots. At last he was able to complete his make-shift weapon, but he was incredibly unsure of its durability.

"It'll have to do," he whispered.

After listening for a handful of minutes, Rhen determined that the four wolves had gone. No doubt Sora was having a heck of a time fighting five giant heartless, but Rhen wasn't prepared to leave him to fend for himself. He took deep breaths as he scooted out of the hole and crawled to the surface. He warily turned his head about to look for the heartless, and saw none to his left or right.

A puff of rancid, steaming breath blew down his neck. Rhen's own breath stopped, and he forced himself to turn. His eyes locked with those of a wolf, and he jumped back with a shout.

The heartless barked and bared its teeth, but Rhen remembered his new flail. He swung his arm in a wide circle, bringing the stone around with mighty force to slam into the side of the monster's head. The crack as stone and shadow-bone connected was both satisfying and gut-wrenching. Rhen knew he couldn't hesitate even a moment. He pummeled the monster again and again, ignoring its yelps and growls.

Finally the onslaught ended as the heartless jumped out of the range of the flail. Rhen's strike descended on vacant air, and the monster spread its jaws to fire some dark power at him. No thought powered Rhen's next movement; his mind seemed to have shut off long ago. Now he only acted on instinct.

He carried the momentum of the falling stone, swung the flail up into a tight spin and then launched it at the heartless with all the power of its centripetal force.

The stone clobbered the heartless square in the forehead and instantly it exploded into a dark cloud. A light flashed as the heart it had trapped escaped and vanished with the essence of the monster.

Rhen went numb, or maybe he had been that way the whole time. He felt locked in place by shock and for the longest time he could not move. The heartless was gone, he realized and a surge of exhilaration and horror washed over him, nearly making him sick. He shook himself, chased down his flail and raced back the way he had come, hoping to find Sora still intact.

Up ahead he could hear explosions, the buzz of lightning and shouts. He followed the sounds, pumping his feet harder and forcing his legs to move faster, praying that he wouldn't trip. He burst into the fight so suddenly that it stunned him for a moment and he stood still.

He saw the remaining three wolves dancing around fallen trees and ravaged earth, and Sora tangled up in the heart of their storm. Rhen roared a challenged and charged the closest heartless, beating it heavily with his flail. The monster took a few moments to figure out what was crippling its hind legs, but by the time it had turned Rhen had already moved out of view and around to its side. He smashed the stone onto the creature's shoulder, and as the monster whipped its head around to face him, Rhen met it with the flying rock.

Just like before, the heartless blew apart into a fine, black mist and disappeared. Rhen came even closer to hurling than the first time, and he almost dropped his weapon as he arms went cold.

Sora shouted behind him, and instantly Rhen was back on alert. He swung the flail as he turned but even though the stone managed to hit the attacking heartless, it was not enough to stop the monster from plowing forward. The creature's head drove into Rhen so hard that his feet left the ground. He flew back yards before he hit a tree and dropped to the ground like a sack of stones. His flail left his hand, tossed into the brush where it could no longer be seen.

Rhen moved to get up, but the heartless was on him even as he lifted his head. Its paw crashed down on him with the force of its massive weight, driving out his breath and bending his ribs.

Sora ran forward and tried to attack, but he had made the mistake of turning his back on the remaining heartless. The blow to the back of his head as the monster landed on him blackened his vision and numbed his bones. He moaned and tried to fight against the creature's mass that pressed on his back, but no man would ever be strong enough to lift such a burden.

Rhen struggled, but even the slightest twist alerted the monster and it pressed him harder. A groaning scream escaped him; he felt as if he would burst, his organs explode and soil the earth. He couldn't breathe, not even the smallest bit, so great was the pressure. Above him, the heartless opened its mouth and roared. Rhen was blasted with breath like a hurricane, pulsing with the sound of the monster's howl. The pain was overwhelming, like his entire upper half was being ripped and shredded by the wind.

A fierce battle cry cut the air. The dark canopy trembled with lightning, and just as the wolf's attack had come, it ended.


	13. Worthwhile

**Whew. Sorry to have waited so long to post. Spring is super busy (and I get super lazy, what with all this warm weather...) anyways, I finally got chapter 12 done! Yay for me! But now I have to do 13, and boy is that a doozy. Lots of crazy stuff coming up, with only two chapters left (not including the epilogue.) Run over to my profile to see the character maps for Mehla and Sholhis that I finally got done. Those were a major time suck, and part of the reason why I didn't update for so long. Yes...two weeks is a long time...for me.**

**As always, enjoy the chapter, send me any questions, leave a comment if you like, and I'll see ya soon.**

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12

**Worthwhile**

Rhen gasped as the tremendous weight was suddenly lifted off his chest. His own groan of relief was drowned by the painful howling of the heartless, and the shouts of its attacker as the two clashed above him.

A massive paw clobbered the ground by his head, tossing up rocks and dirt into his eyes. It dawned on Rhen that he was still in danger, only now he was sore and weaponless. Forcing himself to ignore the protest of his muscles, he sat back and then rolled onto his feet. It was hard to stand up to full height, so Rhen surveyed the conflict around him with his back bent and one arm pressed close to his aching stomach as a pitiful shield.

It seemed that help had arrived. Their faces were somehow familiar, but Rhen knew that he had never met the two young warriors who were fighting off the heartless now. One was a tall silver haired boy brandishing a sinister black sword, and the other was a young woman, her long brown hair flowing behind her as she skillfully danced around one of the giant wolfs. Rhen would have assumed that she was the kind of girl who was sweet, patient and who kept herself as neat as a pin had he met her on the street, but here it was obvious that she could be as fierce as her male companion. Even her hands seemed to burn as she fought.

_Wait, her hands _are _burning! _Rhen's eyes went wide. _She fights with fire! She must be Kari, Roren's friend from Halvi's stories!_

Rhen could have spent hours watching the battle rage, studying the fantastic combinations that his new allies unleashed. But he was all too quickly brought back to the knowledge of where he stood, and what was going on only a few yards away. Rhen shook himself and switched into defense mode again.

_I've got no weapon, I need to find cover,_ he instructed himself and whipped his head around, looking for a place to hide.

His eyes stopped on Sora, who was struggling to stand after being crushed by the other heartless. He seemed alright, if not a little stiff, but unlike Rhen he still held his keyblade. Behind him was a fat long surrounded by thick bushes. Rhen headed for it.

"Riku!" Sora called as Rhen drew closer. "When did you get here?"

Rhen looked over his shoulder and saw the boy with silver hair straddling the head of one of the heartless, pounding it with orbs of dark magic. He grunted in response to his friend's question, unable to concentrate on words while the monster rampaged around the forest.

_That's Riku. _Rhen couldn't help grinning. How many of his heroes was he going to meet today?

"Get down!"

Rhen had barley registered the words when something huge and heavy slammed into him from behind. One of the wolf-heartless had stumbled back into him, knocking him of his feet before it charged forward again. Rhen pushed himself up and watched as Kari drove a flaming kick across the monster's mouth, drawing a howl from the wolf's throat. She wound back and punched the nose of the creature, sending its head straight down to the dirt.

His blood roaring in his ears, Rhen scrambled to his feet and dove behind the log. He tumbled over into the brush, and then tucked his arms and legs in close to himself, making a tight ball out of his body. He peeked over the lumpy back of the log, silently spying on the battle that still ran on. Rhen was relieved to see that Sora was fighting now too. He wished that he could help, but he knew that he would only be in the way if he had no way to defend himself.

He sighed and silently cheered the others on.

Rhen's shoulders tingled. He shuddered with dark anticipation, suddenly knowing that something was coming up behind him. He whirled around, but too late. He was lifted off the ground, pulled up by whatever had a hold on the nape of his jacket.

Rhen kicked and twisted, and managed to turn enough to see what had taken hold of him. He saw white paws, claws and teeth. He moaned. Heartless.

The giant wolf clenched its jaws, gripping Rhen's jacket tighter. Rhen knew what was coming, but he knew no way to prepare himself for it. He sucked in a breath and held it, wrapping his arms around his knees to make himself smaller.

The monster shook its head savagely, whipping Rhen around like a favorite chew toy. For awhile the fabric held, but soon enough it ripped and Rhen was hurtled out into the forest. He flew for several long seconds before he smacked into the ground and rolled to a stop only a few yards away from where Kari was finishing her heartless.

Spitting dirt, he watched as a shadow fell over him, steadily growing larger. He jerked his eyes up, and time seemed pause.

No less than four of the giant wolves were descending on him, all of them with their fangs bared and their claws flashing. Some part of Rhen's mind snapped in that moment. He was sure that he was about to die; surely this time would be it. He didn't wonder if there would be pain, or what lay in wait for his loosed soul, or even if he would be remembered.

Rhen cursed himself as the monsters fell on him. Derided the stupid, pathetic, worthless fool that he was, the fool who had only one thing that he was supposed to do with his life, and who had screwed it up only seconds after he had started.

_I've gone and doomed him now. I've gone and lost Roren for good. _

His mind filled with shame, and there was no room for fear. He closed his eyes, and promised himself that, if he could, he would fly his spirit to Roren when he died.

* * *

Sora was the only one who was watching when Rhen's hands changed. Riku had his back turned, and Kari was gaping at the four heartless that had just charged out of nowhere, but Sora _saw_ it happen. He saw Rhen's hands light up like the moon on a clear night, his skin brimming light like white fire. Even Rhen himself wasn't paying attention as his arms were wrapped in pure light, but kept his eyes closed and his head back, oblivious.

It wasn't until the light manifested, until it all swirled together and ran through him that Rhen finally became aware of it. A sword appeared in his hand, white as snow from pummel to tip, and a scale-shaped shield of the same color weighted on his arm. He opened his eyes and gazed numbly at the shining tools, but then time seemed to catch up with itself.

All four heartless dove to the ground, landing on and around Rhen in a storm of white fur and vicious yellow eyes. Sora cried out, ran a few steps forward, dreading what he would be breaking into. Then he stopped.

The growling wolves, the shifting of the leaves, the shouts around the battlefield: all absolutely hushed. His ears ringing, held his breath.

One wolf suddenly flew away from the others as if it had been blasted by a stray gust of wind from a hurricane. The monster fell to pieces even as it soared through the air, a trail of dark mist following it until it disappeared. There was still no sound, no other motion, like the wolf had never been destroyed, or never been at all.

Sora gaped, staring at the remaining three wolves, but more so at Rhen. The boy stood with his head ducked, protected in the curve of the shield. The shield itself was wedged between the jaws of one of the heartless, holding it back. His other arm was bent, locking the sword behind the teeth of a second monster. As for the third, it was backing away from Rhen as if he radiated a foul stench.

But it was not a smell that flowed from Rhen's feet, but swirling, glowing mist. The fog that spread out from the boy reminded Sora of clouds when the sun was behind them; it shone in a radiant and heavenly way, and it seemed to terrify the heartless.

Rhen's eyes darted from one monster to the other, baffled by their trembling. He seemed as confused as Sora was, but even as he looked at the keyblade master for some explanation, Sora realized what power the boy had somehow found.

Tears flowed down Rhen's face like twin rivers. The streams were endless, pouring forth from his vacant, milk-white eyes.

_Just like Roren. It's the Noble Heart; somehow Rhen has that power too._ Sora didn't know if he felt surprised, angry, or just deaden. Frozen. Bewildered.

"What do I do?" Rhen asked, his voice like a high-pitched bell.

Sora turned his head to the heartless, stared at them, then nodded. For a long while it didn't seem like Rhen would do anything, but then he lowered his head again and took a deep breath. His arms tensed, and in one motion he yanked his sword free from the wolf's teeth, drove it into the heartless that was biting his shield, pulled it out again, and then hurtled it at the last monster. The sword cut through the heartless like an arrow through a sheet of paper, and the creature burst apart and vanished. Next Rhen threw his weight back, jerking his shield out of the other wolf's mouth. He swiveled and smashed the wide end of the shield into the monster's jaw, then pivoted around to drive the tapered end into the last remaining heartless.

A heartbeat passed, and then both of the monsters exploded at once, creating a huge dark cloud that drifted up through the tree branches an into the dark canopy above.

Even after several moments the silence that had fallen did not lift. Everyone stared at Rhen as he stared at the ground, his hands shaking and his face pale. He looked like he had just been pulled out of a lake in the middle of winter, but no one stepped up to ask him if he were alright, or to wrap a blanket around him to still the shivering.

Slowly, slowly, Rhen's tears stopped falling and his eyes darkened back to their original brown shade. He lifted his gaze and looked around.

"What just happened?" he whispered.

Dumbfounded silence reigned for a while more, but then Sora spoke up. "You…just used the Noble Heart. Or…something like it. I think…"

Rhen's mouth hung open, words hesitating on his lips when he heard a clink by his side. He looked down and saw that the white sword had returned to his hand. He swallowed his words.

"Who is this guy?" Riku demanded. "What's going on here?"

Sora turned to the others, leaving Rhen to his own thoughts. "I was going to ask you guys what _you _were doing, showing up all of a sudden. I didn't think you were coming."

"We changed our minds," Kari responded. "We were worried about you, and it seems like we had a good reason to."

"I would've been fine. I can take on any heartless, anytime, anywhere." Sora crossed his arms in a playful show of pride. "They don't call me the keyblade _master_ for no reason, you know."

"What about him?" Riku jumped in.

Rhen was looking at them, waiting to be noticed. He smiled weakly when the three legends-made-real turned to him.

"That's Rhen," Sora explained. "I met him on the way here. He says he's Roren's nobody or something."

"I'm not his nobody, Solhis is."

"Who's Solhis?"

"He's no good, that's what Rhen says."

Riku scowled. "Why should we trust what he says? He's a nobody."

"I'm _not _a nobody," Rhen repeated. "Solhis is Roren's nobody, and I'm…well Halvi says I'm something else, but we don't know what."

Riku's eyebrows lifted. "You know Halvi?"

"Yeah, I lived with her for a few weeks, and she told me all about you guys."

"Oh, so that's it," Riku rolled his eyes. "That's why The King didn't want us going to see Halvi. She's been keeping a secret boyfriend in her house all this time."

Rhen felt his face flush with heat. "I-I'm not Halvi's b-boyfriend!"

"So what are you then?" Riku snapped. Rhen blinked at his angry tone. "You do realize that you just whipped out four monster heartless in a few seconds, don't you? Where did you, some kid who was hiding in the bushes, get that kind of skill? Nothing about you fits. I don't like it. Hurry up. Explain yourself already!"

Rhen was stunned. "I-…I'm…I don't know. I-" he trailed off, but Riku was still glaring at him. It made Rhen angry to have to sit under such a harsh stare while everyone else stood around and waited for an answer. He sighed. "I'm just trying to find Roren, okay? If you three even want to see him again you going to need my help. It's hard enough coming out here, knowing what I'll have to do without some snotty punk giving me the third degree for no reason."

Even though this was not the answer that Riku was looking for, it still shut him up. Kari stepped up and said the first kind words Rhen had heard all day.

"You sure are amazing with that sword," she smiled and he relaxed a little. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Rhen shrugged and said that he didn't know.

"I don't think we should hang around here like this," Sora said. "There could be more heartless around, and I don't know about you but I'd rather not have to run into them."

"What happened to any heartless, anytime, anywhere?" Kari joked.

Sora laughed but didn't argue. "Let's just figure out where we are, then we'll talk everything out, okay?"

He laced his fingers together behind his head and started walking through the forest; the others followed without comment. Kari walked next to Sora, with Riku just behind, and Rhen ambling along last, his footsteps falling in the long shadows of the other three ahead of him.

* * *

"So your _not _a nobody?"

Rhen nodded slowly, encouragingly, though his patience was wearing thin at last. He hadn't known that it was much harder to get two people to understand a complicated concept than just one, not until he had tried explaining his existence to Riku and Kari. He was grateful that Sora was there to help him.

"Solhis is Roren's nobody," The keyblade master volunteered. Rhen had heard that phrase so many times, it was starting to make his ears ring. "Rhen is some other part of Roren…I think…"

"We just don't know what part," Riku finished.

Kari tilted her head, shuffling her thoughts into order. "But, we do know that whatever Rhen is, he's good. Solhis has Roren's darkness, Rhen has his light."

_I hope it's that simple,_ Rhen thought, sighing inwardly. _I just wish I knew what I'm supposed to do._

Frustrated, Riku got to his feet and stretched. "I'm tired of this. I'm going to go take a look around, anybody want to tag along?"

"I'll go," Sora said and jumped up.

"What are you going to do Rhen?" Kari asked.

Rhen was caught off guard by this question, and he swallowed his answer like a piece of un-chewed meat. "I-I think I'm going to stay here," he murmured once he had gotten himself under control.

Kari smiled and turning to Riku said, "I'll stay too. You guys'll be fine without me, I hope?"

Sora snorted as he and Riku drifted away from the temporary camp, calling playful taunts back over his shoulder until he was far in the distance.

"He's so silly," Kari chuckled lightly. Then she sighed heavily and pulled her knees in close. "I remember when Roren used to be like him."

Rhen swallowed, his tongue like a rock wrapped in sandpaper in his mouth. He didn't offer a response, guessing that Kari wasn't looking for one. She went on despite his hesitation.

"Don't you think it's strange," she said, "we willingly entered the dark pool to get here, but when Roren fell in he lost his heart. I never would have thought a place like this existed, not inside a puddle of darkness…"

She looked at Rhen, and he quickly dropped his gaze to the grass. Kari's smile spread into a wide grin, and then, even as she tried to quell it, wild laughter erupted from her mouth. Rhen stared at her with a bemused smile of his own playing on his lips.

"What?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Oh, it just…" Kari turned away for a second, giggling while Rhen's cheeks burned. Finally she heaved a deep breath and whipped her eyes, her fit ended. "I'm sorry, it's just when you looked all shy like that just then, it reminded me of Roren."

She lifted her wet eyes to Rhen's face. "I laughed at him then too, if that makes you feel any better. I don't know why it looks so funny. I guess I just never pictured _shy_ on a face like his, like yours."

Rhen felt subtle delight swell inside him. "I look like Roren?"

"Sure do."

Feeling another powerful blush rush to his face, Rhen looked away again. He remembered Kari's previous reaction at the last second and forced himself to look nonchalant, but this time Kari didn't laugh. When he looked at her again he found that her eyes had aged dramatically.

She stared at the tip of Rhen's shoe distantly, her expression sad. He shifted uncomfortably in the grass, recalling the times when Halvi took on the same look. He never knew what to say.

Kari closed her eyes and said, "There are people out there, people who just have this way about them. No matter what's happened that day, talk to one of them for a while and everything seems lighter."

Rhen watched her open her eyes again, his fingers growing cold. She continued when he didn't speak. "When he was younger, Roren was one of those people. And he knew it, too. After a long march, or a long time on the battle field, he would go all around the camp and talk to people. It would take him hours. Sometimes he wouldn't even take his armor off first. But I swear, whenever he did that you could _feel _the moral rise."

"Everyone felt…better when he was around." Kari balanced her chin in her hand and shook her head. "There were so many times when we all needed that support, but there came a time when Roren just couldn't give it. He couldn't give what he needed himself."

"What…um," Rhen squeezed his hands together nervously. "Was Roren…was he a good friend of yours?"

Kari nodded, her eyes still far away. "He was my friend in more ways than one."

Rhen bit his tongue to keep his jaw from dropping. _Did Kari _love _Roren? Like, really love him?_

Seeing Rhen's wide eyes, Kari's gaze softened and she smirked. "Silly, it wasn't like that. Roren may have been close to a lot of people, but he was never _in love_ with anyone."

"Not even you?" Rhen couldn't believe the words had come out of his mouth.

Kari didn't seem to mind. "No. He wasn't…he didn't think of me, of anyone, that way. Sure, if you asked him he would say that he…loved me, but he'd say he loved Elijah too, and that he loved Jonah. We were his family in some ways, but his relationships were ones of love_ and_ fear. For all his talk, I know Roren was always afraid for us, and for himself. Because of that, there was this distance that he kept between us, and he never once, never _once_ let anyone get beyond it."

"I didn't know that," Rhen whispered, rubbing his arm as if it hurt him. "That's kind of sad. He must have been lonely."

"Well, I was sort of exaggerating," Kari said. "There was one person that got through that thick head of his. Our captain was probably the only person Roren _really _loved."

Rhen knew exactly who she was talking about. He'd heard about Roren's captain from Halvi's stories many times; he was a big part of Roren's early adventures. "Captain Henry Adams, right?"

"The very same," she nodded. "He was closer to Roren than any of us. Like a brother."

Captain Henry was another one of Rhen's favorite characters, and when he wasn't asking Halvi for stories about Sora or Roren, he ask to hear about the young officer. Sadly, Halvi only knew a handful of the Captain's adventures, and none of them were very recent.

"What ever happened to him, anyway?" Rhen pressed.

Kari's normal, gentle features turned dark in an instant. Rhen felt his stomach drop with her gaze, right to the ground.

"Three years ago Captain Henry was killed," she mumbled, stumbling through the words. "That was really when Roren lost it, too. I think whatever hope Roren had in him died that night, or he buried it with Henry."

Now Rhen greatly wished he hadn't asked. Kari was already pushing the emotional thoughts away, before they could open old scars. "You know," she said, though Rhen wouldn't look at her, "For the longest time I've thought it would be great if Roren could meet someone like himself. Or someone like he was."

"Someone with that _way_ about them?" Rhen ventured.

"Exactly," Kari shrugged and her characteristic smile appeared once more. "Maybe that's what you're really here for? Maybe…maybe that's what bringing Roren back really means?"

"I don't really know what it means."

A shout sounded off to their side. Sora and Riku were on their way back.

"Rhen," Kari said quietly and he turned to her, leaning in to hear her words. "All Roren needed to be happy was to let go of his fear. If you could do that for him, even for a little while, that would be saving him more than anything else you could do."

She pulled away as the other two came up to them, and in a few minutes they were all setting out once again. Rhen traveled at the back like before, but as Sora and Riku led the group down the road they had found, he spent the monotonous miles digging farther in, and higher up into his own mind, looking for an ever elusive answer.

* * *

"Oh, boy. Here they come now," Solhis sneered, smacking his lips.

Malhock stood by him, his arms crossed over his chest in an almost protective way. "What are you going to do?"

"Whatever I want to."

"What about that kid?" Malhock wondered, frowning at the wild gleam in Solhis's eye.

The tall nobody scowled. "Which kid, idiot? They're all kids."

Malhock bit back a sharp comment of his own, rolling his eyes in a small circle instead. "I mean, what are you going to do to Rhen?"

"Glad you asked," Solhis said with a grin. "I promised Mehla that she could be the one to take him out, but that doesn't mean that I don't get to have a little fun first. Besides, the other three are fair game."

_Psycho, _Malhock thought, but he didn't speak. Not wanting to be close by when Solhis was about to go rampaging, he carefully excused himself and made to leave.

"Just try not to get too crazy," he reminded his superior. "Without Rhen we lose Roren, and you're not ready for that to happen yet."

Solhis did not answer, so Malhock shrugged and left without another word.

Farther up the road a small band of travelers was approaching. Solhis eyed them hungrily, his eyes straining to see which one was his most desired target. _There you are, hiding at the back._ He laughed.

"You always did like to hide, didn't you Rhen?"

He waited a few more minutes, until the distance was just right. He wanted them to see him, to wonder who he was, and when they realized, then he would move. Solhis bent his knees, saw the pause in the stride of the group's leader, and then he jumped.

He rocketed up into the sky so fast that it was like he had never been standing by the road at all. Once in the air he did not fall, he floated, showing his absolute control over the elements of his world. The figures below him turned their heads back and forth, searching for what they could not see. Rhen was the only one of the three who seemed to understand, but even then, he was far too weak to act against Solhis's plan.

With a kick of his legs, the nobody swooped back down toward the travelers, reached out his hand, and at the last second snatched Rhen up off the ground. The boy's shout ended in an abrupt gurgle as his collar cinched tightly around his neck. Solhis lifted him, and then tossed him up into the air with ease.

Rhen spread his arms and legs as he flew up, the shield that was still attached to his arm catching the wind and sending his whole body into a spiral. The whole world spun with him, until he was so dizzy that the trees seemed to have their roots in the clouds, and the sun shone up from under the ground. A second later he landed back on the earth with a painful thud, and everything slowed.

His whole body ached the same way he had when he had fallen through the trees earlier that day. He wondered how many times he would be dropped on his back from up high. Then he looked up, expecting to be tossed around again, but all he saw was a pair of stylish shoes sliding over the dirt toward him. Rhen was in no position to raise his head very high, so he could only see Solhis's knees as the nobody stood over him.

Sora and the others had finally stopped looking in circles, having spotted Solhis after he had thrown Rhen into the air. Now they stood like statues as the tall man stooped down and grabbed a handful of Rhen's hair, speechless as he yanked the boy to his knees, and numb as he kicked him hard in the stomach.

The sound of Rhen gasping and retching seemed to awaken them at last. Sora was the first to shout.

"Stop that!" He hollered, and Solhis turned to him.

"You got a problem, kid?"

Sora found that his mouth had gone dry. Why did he always feel so weak when this man looked at him? The sensation made him angry, so when he demanded that Solhis let Rhen go, his voice was surprisingly fierce.

Solhis grinned. "Didn't I tell you to stay off my property? Didn't I _tell_ you that you couldn't rescue your useless friend?"

"Shut up! Roren's a better guy than you'll ever be!"

"I don't care about being a better guy," Solhis hissed. He spat to the side, and his spit smacked Rhen's cheek. "Roren was so useless most of the time anyway. Why is he better? He was _better_ when he listened to me!"

Riku narrowed his eyes, his nose wrinkled. "What do you know about Roren?"

"Oh, more than you'll ever care to know," the tall nobody sneered. "I've been with him since the day he was born, though we may not have found each other right away." Suddenly his face darkened and he looked down at Rhen. The boy kneeled helplessly on the ground, struggling to breathe, only hearing parts of what was being said. Solhis bared his teeth in disgust. "Roren spent way too much time fooling around with this piece…of…trash." He emphasized each of his last words with a swift kick to Rhen's body, one of them landing on his face. Rhen ground his teeth and didn't make a sound.

"Knock it off," Kari said, her voice steady and threatening. Her eyes were even more fearsome than her tone, but once again Solhis ignored the command.

He pulled Rhen's head closer and whispered, "Don't you remember those days? Back when I was finally taking the lead, when he pushed you down over and over? I remember how sweet it was, and I just wanted to see the look on your face."

Rhen glared at Solhis out of the corner of his eye. "I remember…" he wheezed, "I remember you…all you did…was drag us down. You had…us all headed…for death."

"So what, you were the savior? You never got us anywhere. I'm the one who accomplished the important things, while all you wanted to do was sit around!" Solhis stood up, pulling Rhen with him. They kept their eyes locked together, a silent battle raging, until one of the others spoke up.

"What's going on here?" Riku demanded. "Did both of you know Roren a long time ago?"

"We _are_ Roren, you moron," Solhis grumbled. "At least _I _am. I thought I had that loser on my side, I thought we had gotten rid of this wretch for good. But Roren sure was a tricky one. He never really let you go, kept you locked up until you could just take over completely."

"But I still got him to listen to me again, for a while." The nobody looked at Kari, and she stiffened. "She did a lot to help me then. Do you know what I'm talking about, sweetheart? Back in Rossick City?"

Kari's eyes widened. Solhis nodded. "I've been working my way up ever since then. I even got him to yell at you, pretty boy! That was really fantastic!"

Sora's face went pale when he realized what Solhis was talking about. "You…are you saying that you made Roren tell me to go home? That was you?!"

"Man, you guys are all so slow! Me and Rhen, we're closer than you think." He pressed Rhen's face in next to his own, as if they were posing for a picture. "Roren was one messed up kid, you know? His personality was completely divided. Most of the time he was the funny guy that everybody loved, and other times he would get so raving mad that he was like _a different person_. When he made decisions, he always argued both sides inside his head. The devil and angel on his shoulders, that's us."

Sora's mouth hung open just a little, confusion clear on his face. Sohlis rolled his eyes and went on. "Roren had a split personality. Duh. I guess you never knew, because it wasn't as dramatic when he younger. But crap happened, his head got really screwed up, and the next thing you know, he's got another person inside his mind. That was me. I didn't like being cooped up, so I worked my magic and finally got the idiot to follow my lead."

He looked at Rhen once more. "But Roren got a little depressed in the process. He didn't trust my methods, he didn't want to listen to me anymore. Just because I got him banished for murder…anyway, he wanted to go backwards. He wanted to be his old stupid self again, so he went and made up another character to occupy his head. Called him some silly name, gave him all of his old characteristics, and pretty much let him take over."

"I remember that," Kari interrupted. "We went to find Roren after he had been exiled, but when we did he acted like he didn't remember us. He looked the same on the outside, but he didn't know anything about his own life. He didn't know me, or his own family, or anything. He told us some story about growing up in Rossick Town, working in the bakery, and planning to move to the west sometime, but…that whole world of his was just his imagination. The person we were talking to wasn't even real."

Solhis wagged his head. "Yes he was. He's standing right here, see. Isn't he cute?" Here he shook his hand, making Rhen's head move with it. "By the time Roren was 19, he had three different personalities. Old Roren, the one who was a depressed, worn out, soldier; me, the ambitious one; and Rhen, the cheerful little fake. So guess what happened when he lost his heart? I became the nobody, because I've _always_ been a part of him. And Rhen showed up too, because he was created by Roren. As for our host, he's still hanging around too. But like I told pretty boy, Roren belongs to me. You lot can have him when I'm done taking the Noble Heart."

Sora strode forward, his keyblade appearing with a flash in his hand. He raised his weapon. "So that's what you meant by _empty_. You're stealing Roren's power from him, and once you have all of it, then what?"

"Well," Solhis snorted. "I have to destroy Rhen first. If he gives his spirit up to Roren then we're all finished. Old depressed Roren becomes the guy you all remember, but without the split personality. There'll only be him, he'll just be happier. Me and Rhen disappear…you know, poof! So naturally, I'm not going to let that happen. I like being my own man. It's nice to have a body of my own for once."

Solhis opened his palm and suddenly a long sword appeared in his hand. It was thin, but hooked in the middle, designed to tear flesh in the most painful way. "I made this whole world. Everything you see on this side of the pool was my idea. So yes, this is my property. And I want you punks out!"

He brandished the sword, Sora, Riku and Kari all poised for combat, all waiting for him to make the first move. But it was Rhen who acted before everyone.

He pulled his own sword free from where he had hidden it inside his shield. The pure white blade sang as he released it, slicing it in a clean arch through the air to cut at Solhis's neck. The nobody saw the attack at the last second and dipped his blade to deflect the strike. He pushed Rhen away from him, their weapons clanging together, and Solhis's finger tearing out pieces of Rhen's blonde hair as the two leapt apart.

As if on que the other three jumped into the fight. The four of them struck out at Solhis with weapons, magic and fists, but all of their attacks fell short. Solhis moved around them, dodging and blocking with inhuman skill. The battle was more like a dance, every step carefully planned and complex, and incredibly intricate.

Rhen and Sora both swung at Solhis's feet, but their blades whooshed through empty air as their foe jumped up over them. He continued to rise, still swinging his massive sword at those below him. Soon he was too high to reach, and he hovered over them and laughed.

Then he sucked in a huge breath, his chest swelling like a frog. The next moment he roared at the travelers, his breath a massive hammer and his voice a wave.

**"GET OFF MY PROPERTY!!!!!!"**

Rhen and the others were all knocked to their feet, the ground shaking, the world melting and the colors around them blending. Their bones rattled, their blood froze and their skin trembled as if under a mighty wind. Everything seemed to be screaming those words. They pummeled the bodies of the helpless victims, endlessly, for hours and days, months and years, until the world seemed to run out of energy. Then everything fell.

* * *

By the time Sora, Rhen, Riku and Kari woke up again, the illusion of the moon was high in the fabricated sky. All of them felt drained, and their faces appeared yellow in the moonlight. Even so, none of them looked as bad as Rhen.

His eyes were grey, sunken into his face and rimmed in red. His clothes were torn, and his arms and legs shook uncontrollably. But worst of all were the cuts that covered his skin. Most were small, some were long enough to be truly painful, but it was what the cuts revealed that was most troubling. Rhen stared at his hands, at the torn flesh that did not bleed. Under his skin was nothing but a black stuffing. There were no tendons, no muscles, no blood.; just a fleshy black substance.

Slowly Rhen began to understand what he was seeing. This was all he was. A form with a layer of skin and hair wrapped around it like a well fitted suit. He didn't have a heart, he didn't even have lungs. He saw that he really was an illusion. _A fake. Not even a real person._ _A shadow. The shadow of someone who never existed in the first place._

He wanted to cry, but he didn't think he even had tears to shed. He sat with his hands laying in his lap and a terrified expression on his darkened face. After a while it occurred to him that even the pain he felt could not be real. It was just a memory, just the idea that cuts in his skin should hurt. Even as these thoughts wandered through Rhen's mind, the stinging, burning and aching all over his body died.

Rhen found the disappearance of the pain more horrible than its presence. Pain was something for _real _people to feel, and the lack of it only affirmed his discovery that he was farther from being real than he had ever known.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. It was Riku, standing over him with his hand held out.

"You want to come over to the fire?" He asked. "You've been sitting there for hours."

Rhen folded his hands over each other, then stood and followed Riku to the small fireplace that the others had made. He wondered how long he had been sitting in the dirt, staring at himself. He wondered also why no one had spoken to him until now. _They probably think I'm disgusting_.

Sora and Kari were not around the fire, but resting under a small rock outcropping. Riku explained that he had taken the first watch.

Rhen held up his hands. "Did you see?"

"Yes." Riku looked up. "The others didn't know what to do with you. So, they let you sit."

"What about you?"

The other boy seemed to grow sadder when Rhen said this, but he answered, "I think we need to talk. Sit down."

Rhen obeyed, though he fell to the dirt rather than sat. For a while the two were quiet, the crackling of the fire the only sound between them.

"Is what Solhis said true?" Riku's eyes reflected the dimming firelight.

Rhen nodded. "I didn't even know it before he showed up, but while he was talking I started to remember."

"So, you really are just one of Roren's multiple personalities?"

"Yeah…that's all."

"But," Riku sighed as the words evaded him. "You're so…complicated. You have thoughts and feelings, you act like a regular person."

Now it was Rhen's face that drooped. "I guess Roren was really creative."

Riku laughed softly, but it was a sad sound. He nudged the coals with a stick and looked at Rhen. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm sticking with the old plan," Rhen said. "Nothing's changed."

"Are you crazy?!" The other boy almost shouted, but quieted his voice a moment later, mindful of his sleeping friends. "Rhen, you heard Solhis say it; this is his world. He won't let you get anywhere near Roren, you don't have a chance. He's going to kill you."

Rhen closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his hand thoughtfully. He felt the cuts along his knuckles, like great scars torn in the ground. "I've talked to Sora, and to Kari, and now I'm talking to you. All three of you know where I stand. I'm going through with this. If I turned around now, I know that I would never come back."

"Oh, Rhen…"Riku shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. You've never even really met Roren. Think about what you're doing!"

"I have thought about it! I've never stopped thinking about it," he whispered. He crossed his legs, hoping to stop his knees from shaking. "I could go back, give up all together, but…I don't know what would be worse; dying at the hands of Solhis, or living on, knowing that I turned my back on the purpose I was created for."

"Roren may have made me up in his head, but…I was made to save him from Solhis. And if I can do that…"

Riku broke in, saying, "But what's in it for you? You can't be doing this for no reason. Tell me that. _Why _are you doing this?"

"Because…" Rhen looked up at the sky, full of strange stars, "Because Roren is loved by so many people. I can just imagine how happy, how relieved they would feel if he would just smile and laugh like he used to. And…If I could give him a second chance, or a third, or a fourth, or even a thousand more chances to figure his life out, to find the way to be really free and happy, that would make all this," he held out his torn up arms, "worthwhile. It would make…me…worthwhile."

Riku swallowed. "So that's it."

"Oh,' Rhen laughed, "I have to convince myself every few minutes that it's really worth it. I just hope I'll have the strength to finish this when the time comes. I may not have a heart, but, I still feel like running the other way. But, somehow I've gotten this far."

"Alright then," Riku stood up and held out his hand once more. "I promise to help you do what is right in the end. I'll do what I can to get you there, and if I have to, get you out in once piece."

This time Rhen solidly clasped Riku's hand and shook it. The other boy felt the strange cuts along Rhen's hand and it made him shiver.

"I've got a feeling," Rhen said, sitting back and staring into the fire. "Tomorrow we sink or swim. You should get some sleep. Trust me, I don't actually need it."


	14. A Deal Means Everyone Loses

**Wow, what a crazy time I've had writting this chapter. I think some part of my brain doesn't want to accept that the story is almost over (one chapter to go guys! Here comes the finale!) or maybe I'm just lazy. I think both may be true. Anyways, I've said just about everything that needs to be said, so I'll see you around when the last posts arrive.**

**til then, enjoy the story, and review (please?) if you want to. :)**

* * *

13

**A Deal Means Everyone Loses**

The hall Mehla wandered down was dark, a cave sparsely lit by ornate wall sconces and dim chandeliers. Her feet made no sound on the thick carpet, or maybe she could not hear her own foot falls over the rush of blood in her ears and the furious pounding of her heart. Her bangs were glued to her forhead by sweat, and the palms of her hands proved useless in wiping it away; they were just as sticky and moist.

She crossed her arms and pressed her hands in close to her sides. No one was around to see her knees shaking, but it embarrassed her all the same.

_I shouldn't be here,_ an annoying voice reminded her. _This hall is for Solhis alone. If he found me…_

Every few minutes she would glance back over her shoulder, so sure that a figure would emerge out of the dark, grinning with wild fury. All she ever saw was the long, gloomy hall, no other life save for the scrawny ferns that squatted along the walls in their massive pots. Solhis had an odd taste in decorations.

Mehla shook her head and continued on. The door was just ahead, hiding in the darkest part of the hall. Beyond that was the Inner-Chamber, the enormous room where Solhis kept all of his statues and monuments: his treasures. In other words, the Inner-Chamber was where he locked away all of his "property" for safe keeping. It was the only forbidden room in the castle, but by far the largest. It was well hidden, the entrance to the hall so carefully and cleverly disguised that it had taken Mehla days to find it.

She had to admit, when it came to his possessions, Solhis knew how to keep them safe. As for everything else, the back burner was considered home, but that didn't bother Mehla too much. Solhis may be terribly strong, but his opinion was the last thing that concerned her.

The only person who really mattered to Mehla had no voice, no way to speak, no strength to fight, no will to even open his eyes. He sat under the high domed ceiling of the Inner-Chamber, lost to the world, and with no desire to return.

The frame of the door appeared a few yards away. Mehla hurried to it and grasped the handle, but there she stopped. A sound, a soft thump behind her turned her cold. She stood frozen with her fingers still wrapped around the door knob, her breath tight in her throat and her muscles taught as wire. She listened, but no more sounds came. There was only the impression of eyes in the dark, but even that was unnerving enough.

With one quick motion, Mehla ripped open the door and slipped around to the other side, a wave of relief washing over her as the door closed. She turned to face Inner-Cchamber, and once again the sheer brilliance of the decorations took her breath away.

The room was an enormous circle, with a domed ceiling so high that the top could hardly be made out. An intricate painting wrapped around the single rounded wall and depicted stormy seas, rolling clouds and other scenes of magnificent fury. Scattered around the room were a dozen massive statues, all of them stretching nearly to the celestial heights of the vaulted ceiling. One of the monuments was a tower of water spurting from a wide stone base like a geyser; another was of a tree, one greater than Mehla thought she would ever see in a real forest. Many of the others were statues of giant warriors, their eyes so blank and their faces so plain that all of them would have looked like exactly the same person, if not for their armor. The designs were apparently Solhis's original creations, and he showcased them on these monstrous mannequins.

But even though the great hall was without a doubt the most magnificent room in the castle, Mehla had not ventured here to sight see. Her focus fixated on a lone chair placed tastelessly between the feet of two of Solhis's statues. From where she stood, the chair's high stone back was to her, and she could not see who sat in it. She was not worried. She knew that there would always be an occupant for that chair, at least as long as Solhis required it.

She crossed the lavish carpet of the Inner-Chamber as silently as she had when she was sneaking down the castle corridors looking for it. Her eyes never once strayed from the stone chair, as every step closer sent a shrill of excitement from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes. But then, when the marble throne was no less than a yard away, she stopped.

Uncertainty threatened to turn her back, the risk of embarrassment driving its ugly head up through the surface of her thoughts. For a moment Mehla almost left the chamber to retreat back into the shadowy hall. It was that familiar, yet unknown desire that ended up drawing her around to the front of the chair, and it was pure fascination that lowered her to her knees before the foot of the throne.

"Roren."

She whispered his name even as she gazed at his motionless face with adoring eyes. He did not answer her; he did not move at all. His head lay against the uncomfortable stone headrest, his eyes closed and his breath slow and deep. His hands were bound together, palm to palm, by a web-like cloth, as were his ankles and his knees. Yet another strand of the strange material wrapped round his shoulders and his chest, pinning him to the back of his seat.

Mehla did not dare touch the bonds, knowing what searing pain they would bring to her fingers. Instead her hand reached, perhaps of its own accord, toward Roren's face. Her arm shook out of fear, the persistent voice in her mind reminding her that what she was about to do, what she had done already, would likely cost her her life if Solhis found out. She knew, only because Solhis had said it so many times, that the Inner-Chamber was absolutely forbidden, and that above all other restrictions, no one was too ever search for Roren. No one was to look upon him. And certainly, no one was to touch him.

But that knowledge did not stay Mehla's hand. The warnings, the dangers raged in her mind like a wild storm, but the moment her fingers brushed Roren's cheek, all of her thoughts calmed. She smiled and gently pushed the stray locks of hair off his forehead.

His mouth twitched and for a heart wrenching second she thought he would open his eyes. But he became still once more, and the flame of hope in Mehla's heart dimmed.

"He's only going to get worse."

Mehla caught a scream of fright behind her teeth, whipping around to see who had followed her into the chamber. She relaxed instantly when she saw that it was Liha who stood just on the other side of the stone chair, her sharp eyes staring with pointed suspicion.

"Liha," Mehla sighed, "you really scared me. I thought you were Solhis coming to turn me to dust."

The other girl laughed through her nose. "He'll destroy us both for coming here…if he finds out."

"Then don't let him find out."

Liha folded her arms across her chest and moved around to the front of the chair. She and Mehla both looked at Roren quietly, but he did not acknowledge them, only continuing his dreamless slumber despite their presence. Mehla eventually stood up and reluctantly turned away from him in order to face the other nobody.

"So you've figured me out, then?" she quizzed.

"Well, yes," Liha shrugged. "I actually followed you here because Solhis sent me to get you." Mehla's face went pale, but Liha shook her head. "Don't worry, he doesn't know what you've been doing, he's just called a meeting. We didn't know where you were, so he sent me out to find you."

Mehla set her hands on her hips. "What's the meeting for?"

The other woman raised an eyebrow as if to say, "What? You don't know?" But she merely smiled and said, "Time is getting short. Solhis is ready to end this game he's been playing with Rhen and his friends. We're all being sent out tonight."

Suddenly Mehla was tempted to sit down in Roren's chair, the wave of fear and dizziness that surged through her was so strong. She swallowed, whispering, "So soon?"

"It was going to happen sooner or later," Liha said. "Now what I want to know is, what are you planning to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please," Liha barked, "After what you've done here, do you really expect me to explain things to you? In fact, you're the one who needs to do the explaining."

Mehla bit her lip, debating over how much she could spare to tell. It was clear that Liha was playing for something more than juicy secrets in this exchange, but the only way to figure out what she wanted would be to ask upfront.

"What do I want?" She repeated Mehla's question lightly. Then she looked at Roren and her eyes softened. "Let's start with what _you_ want. You don't need to tell me too much; I know you only joined with Solhis to protect Roren. But in order to do that, to wake him up, you're can't let Solhis go through with his plan. But, that's all I know."

Mehla nodded. "I need to bring Rhen here. He's the only one who can bring Roren back. Solhis would never do it."

Liah frowned. "Rhen? You mean that little boy whose tagging along with Sora and the others? I thought he was just a pest, but you think he's something more?"

"He's everything. Without him, Solhis wins."

Liah's interest was already waning, so she quickly transitioned to what she really wanted to talk about; her own desires. "Listen, Mehla, let's get to the point. I want to know what you know, or at least as much as you know," she said. "I'm guessing that you have an informant of some kind, someone who tells you all about Solhis and Malhock and about Roren. We all know that overpowering Solhis is impossible, but outsmarting him is not out of the question. If I had the kind of information you do, I would at least have a viable weapon to use against him. Right now I have to follow every order he gives like a stupid dog. I can't get out from under his thumb, and after tonight, I doubt if anyone ever could."

Mehla only half-listened to Liha's rambling, her attention wandering elsewhere. She was worried about Rhen, worried about what she would be asked to do. _Using him as a reason to join Solhis was a stupid idea. Why did I ever say that I wanted to hurt him?_

"So what do you say?" Liha was waiting for an answer, but Mehla hadn't heard the question.

"What?"

"I'm trying to make you a deal here," she said, a trace or annoyance behind her words. "If you take me to your informant, or at least tell me everything you know, then I'll do something for you in exchange. Basically, I'm asking you to name your price."

Mehla took a moment to think about this. Of all the other members of Solhis's ramshackle team, Liha was certainly the best choice for an ally. Drhi and Malhock were both far too volatile to be trusted, and they were just as stupid and self-interested as Solhis. But even so, Mehla wasn't sure if it was a good idea to introduce Liha to Halvi, no matter how good of an ally she made. Halvi was by all counts completely helpless; she didn't know how to fight, and her power to read hearts didn't do her any good when it came to nobodies.

But then again, there was Rhen to think about. He was no push over; at least as long as he had his wits about him, but he was the one threatened by Solhis the most. Mehla knew that whatever Solhis wanted them to do tonight likely involved Rhen in some way, hurting him, capturing him, maybe even killing him. In any case, she couldn't let any of those things happen, not if she wanted to revive Roren.

That was one thing she was sure of. She wanted Roren to wake up, even though she did not completely understand why her desire was so intense. Nobodies weren't supposed to be able to feel any emotions; they couldn't hate or fear, or love, but Mehla could not deny that when it came to the shackled soldier, she did feel _something._

_Whatever I do, Roren has to come first, and that means that Rhen has to get to him._

So she asked Liha for one thing only, hoping that she could trust the clever nobody to keep her word. "All I want you to do is help me keep Rhen safe," Mehla said. "No matter what Solhis tells you to do, promise me that you won't hurt him too badly."

"That's all you want?" Liha seemed surprised. "What's so important about that kid anyway?"

_More than you know now. _"You'll find out, just promise me. That's my only condition."

Liah studied the other woman for a moment, then she slowly extended her hand. "Deal."

* * *

The sword and shield strapped to Rhen's arm were making his shoulder throb. Their weight seemed to increase the more he wore them, but he figured that this was only because he was getting tired, not because the tools had some curse on them. Every once in a while Rhen would remind himself that he wasn't feeling any pain at all, that it was all just a memory coming back to life in his mind. That would help for a while, but fighting back the wearisome ache took some fragment of concentration, and for that reason Rhen would revert to coping with the pain as he trod along the endless road.

No matter how much he tried to chase the thoughts away, the feelings of exhaustion and dread were stuck into his mind like fangs in his flesh. Those emotions, those sensations never faded, never lessened and soon Rhen gave up on fighting them.

As for any other kind of fighting, he didn't worry about that either. When he held the short ivory sword his body took on a new awareness. He could wield the sword and shield like he had been using them his whole life, even though he had never seen such weapons before. He lifted his arm and touched the hilt of the blade that was currently sheathed in the inner concave of his shield, knowing that it was not his own skill that guided them in battle. Roren was the one who had endured the training, he was the one who had practiced for countless hours to develop that ease and confidence that Rhen now owned.

_Don't worry. _He promised, _I'll give all that back too._

He sighed, and looked up into the sky, admiring the way that the purple sunset spread through the blue. At least Solhis had some taste; the world he had imagined into existence sure was beautiful.

Solhis, now there was a real problem. Rhen could now easily recall all the years he had spent struggling against that ambitious man. Only in a mind like Roren's could two different entities live so realistically, so dramatically. It seemed a little strange to him now, even though the notion of two personalities fighting over the future of their host had never struck him as odd before. There were so many complications, like Roren's needs, his grief, or his position in the military, to think about back then.

The fighting still went on, but at least now Rhen didn't have to worry about so many issues. There were truths that he had held to when he battled Solhis before, and those were all he cared about now.

One thing he was certain of was he had bond with Roren. If he cleared away everything but his strongest attachments, Rhen would find that the young soldier was the only person he really cared about. Halvi, was important, and Sora, Kari and Riku were his friends, but as far as Rhen was concerned Roren was more vital than a heartbeat. The day that Rhen had become aware of his host personality was the same day that he had taken up the task of protecting him, and he had never stopped since then.

He could not fail after all this time. He would not turn back, even if it meant his own destruction. Rhen had been willing to do anything before, and nothing had changed. Roren still needed him, and Rhen still wanted to help.

Knowing that, his other belief had shown itself right away: rescuing Roren was the only goal, and at this point nothing would stop him from getting to it.

Nothing except for the significant obstacle that had been bothering Rhen and the others for the last three days; they had no idea where Roren was and no idea where _they_ were either.

Sora had been leading them down a dirt road for quite some time, but no matter how far they walked the scenery hardly changed. Sometimes there would be a forest on their side, at times a crystal blue lake would appear, or maybe some rolling hills, but that was all. Food was slowly disappearing with each day, and so was the moral of the party.

Eventually Rhen started wishing that Solhis would show up again, just so he could give them directions. But it was a silly thought, of course. More than likely Solhis planned to let Rhen wander forever, never to find Roren, and never to know if he still lived.

With his next sigh, Rhen drew the attention of the only female member of the team. Kari looked back at him and seeing the way his head drooped, she moved to walk next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied. "Just tired, I guess."

Kari nodded. She looked tired too. "Are you worried that we might be going the wrong way?"

_Yes._ Rhen thought, but he decided not to say it. Instead he pointed out the dwindling food supply, and Kari agreed that it was a problem. But at the same time, she saw through his weak cover up, and pinpointed his true worries.

"We know that we can't search under every rock and root in this world for Roren," she said. "We'll have to turn back by tomorrow, but if we don't find him this time, we just have to try again later."

Rhen looked at Sora and Riku walking a few yards ahead. He knew that Sora wanted to save Roren just as badly as he did, but unfortunately the keyblade master didn't have years to spend looking for him. He would have to give up sometime, no matter how painful it was to accept.

"You guys can turn back whenever you want," Rhen murmured. "But I'm gonna keep going. I don't need to eat, or sleep. I can search every inch of Solhis's world, even if you can't."

Kari walked for a while in silence, but then her hand reached out and clasped Rhen's. "We could've gone back anytime, but we haven't yet for a reason. We want to help Roren, but we want to help you too. You and Roren are both our friends, and the sooner you understand that, the easier this will be."

"There's no way this could ever be easy," Rhen replied sadly. Kari responded by gently squeezing his hand, then letting him go and moving back up toward Sora and Riku.

That night Rhen took the first watch again. Even when his shift ended he still sat up, letting the others sleep because he wanted to, and because he didn't feel like talking to anyone anymore. He didn't care if he never spoke again.

Unfortunately, the sound of approaching feet instantly put Rhen on edge, and he called out into the dark, "Hello? Who's there?"

"Just a friend," came the answer.

As he watched, a tall woman strode out of the darkness and into the dimming light of the camp fire. She looked familiar, and after a moment Rhen realized where he had seen her before. She was the woman that had tracked him down when he still lived on his own in the forest, the one who had smacked him so hard on the head that he had blacked out.

He rose to his feet and reached for his shield and sword.

"Hold on," the woman held up her hands. "I don't want any trouble. Do you remember me?"

"Why do you think I want my weapon?"

She smiled weakly. "Okay, okay. Our first meeting was a little rough, I'll admit that much. But you can trust me. I'm a friend of Halvi."

Rhen narrowed his eyes. "I hear that Malhock calls himself a friend of Halvi's too. Like that makes me trust you at all." He slipped his arm into the strap inside the shield, and grabbed the handle of the short sword.

The woman dropped her arms and shook her head. "I guess you're right. There's no way this could be easy, huh?"

Rhen tried not to let his surprise show on his face, but the moment he felt cold steel against his neck he gave up on hiding the emotion. Someone stood just behind him, pressing a knife into his skin with one hand and pinching his side with the other. For once, the steel actually hurt, and the pain from the pinching hand was harder to ignore than he thought it would be.

"Don't try anything funny, Kiddo," another woman's voice hissed in his ear. The hand pinching his side squeezed harder when he tried to turn his face to see her, so he stayed put.

The first woman approached, walking right over the coals from the dying fire. "My name's Mehla," she said. "And behind you is my friend Liha. We already know your name, Rhen, so there's no need to say it."

Rhen returned Mehla's introduction with a cold stare. She went on as if she couldn't see the distrust behind his eyes. "Now don't go and get yourself all angry at us. We're here to help you. You want to find Roren, don't you?"

At first, Rhen wouldn't give an answer, but the knife dug deeper into his neck, and the pinch became more like a vice on his side, so he gave in and said, "Yes, I do."

"Alright then, we'll take you to him."

A frown passed over Rhen's face. "Really? You've got to be kidding, do you think I'm that dumb?"

"No, This is what we came here for," Mehla said, smiling earnestly. "But we have to go now. The other two are coming, and you shouldn't be around when they get here."

"What about my friends?"

Liha was the one who spoke this time. "Leave them be. Drhi and Malhock are after _you. _They'll probably figure out what we've done and go back to the palace."

"I don't know if they're that smart," Mehla snorted.

"Who's not smart?"

A child-like voice snapped through the air like a whip, and both of the girls flinched. Just behind them Malhock and Drhi rode in on two enormous, black wolf-heartless. Their approach had been so quiet and so stealthy that even Liha had not seen them.

"Oh look!" Malhock called. "They've caught him already! Excellent!"

Drhi sneered. "Sheesh, he sure is ugly. How can you stand to touch him, Liha?"

The black-haired woman cut her eyes at the boy. "Shut up, you little toad."

"Gosh, I'm guessing you're not one big happy family?" Rhen muttered.

Dhri shot him a scorching look. "What did you say? Go ahead and cut his throat Liha, if it won't kill him, but maybe it'll shut him up."

"Drhi, no one wants to hear you flap your tongue," Malhock snapped. "The ladies have done most of the work for us, so let's just kill the stupid little trouble maker and be done with it."

"Wait a minute!" Rhen shouted. "You said that you would take me to Roren!"

"Quiet!" Mehla hissed.

Rhen didn't want to be quiet, he wanted to get the heck out of there, and if he couldn't do that, then at least he should try to get free from the knife. He pushed and kicked against his captor, but Liha held firm, her arm now hugging his whole chest and making it hard to get away.

Suddenly the coals in the fire pit burst into life again with an explosion so fierce that both of the girls and Rhen were knocked to the ground. The flames scared the heartless away from the pit despite their rider's attempts to lead them or stop them from running away.

The heat from the massive fire blasted Rhen's face, but then it cooled all at once. Rhen looked up through the smoke and saw Sora standing between him and the flames, his hand offered out to help the other boy up. Rhen took it and was pulled to his feet.

"Thanks," he grunted, hefting his shield up and drawing his sword.

Sora nodded once. "Come on! Kari's destracting them, let's get out of here!"

The two ran for what they thought was the opposite direction of the nobodies, but because of the billowing smoke it was easy to get lost. Soon Rhen and Sora were standing back to back, spinning in a slow, confused circle.

"RIKU! KARI!" Sora called. "Where are you?"

Something that sounded like an answer came from off to their right. "This way!" Sora shouted and took off. Rhen hurried to follow him.

Eventually the smoke thinned, but by that time Sora was coughing more than he was breathing. Rhen gave the boy his shoulder and rushed him toward cleaner air, but their progress was slow as the keyblade master stumbled and tripped while they ran.

In a moment the two were alone, with nothing around them but the silhouette of the forest trees in the dark. Sora's breaths were ragged, and he hung off Rhen's shoulder as limply as a stuffed doll. Rhen whipped his head around, but all he could see from the direction he and Sora had come was grey smoke and the red glow of the fire.

Though he couldn't see, Rhen could hear what was going on just fine. There were shouts, growls ,clangs and the occasional snap of lightning coming from around the fire, so he knew that there was some kind of fight happening.

"RIKU, KARI!" Rhen hollered, but there was no answer save for a single, strained grunt.

"They're in trouble," Sora wheezed.

Rhen searched for his remaining friends, but found nothing. "I'll go get them. You wait here."

Sora stood up straighter and insisted that he was alright. He still coughed every few seconds, but he had taken his weight off of Rhen's shoulder.

Rhen was about to protest, when a booming roar echoed out from close to the fire. A new wave of thick smoke rolled toward them and in an instant the two boys were swimming in blackness like the night, except that now there was no air to breathe at all. This didn't bother Rhen, he knew that he didn't really need to breathe, but Sora did.

He held the boy up and once again tried to find suitable air, only this time there didn't seem to be any. Sora was fading quickly, and Rhen started carrying him on his back, even though the weight was normally more than he could bear.

He had no idea where he was running, or if he was headed to safety. He just guessed that he would find the edge of the smoke if he went far enough, and hoped that Sora would still be hanging on by the time he found the way out. Soon Rhen was running all out, as fast as he could when he smacked into what felt like a wall, but was far too furry to really be one.

Rhen knew what it was, but admitting that he had run right into a heartless when he needed to be searching for clear air would only have crushed his determination. He picked up his feet and sprinted around the monster, only to come face to face with another. All around a huge pack of heartless were closing in, and no matter where Rhen turned he only saw more of the horrible creatures.

Sora was probably out cold by now, though Rhen didn't think to check. He honestly didn't want to know. He moved in slow circles, looking for some exit, but there were half a dozen heartless on every side. There was no way out. He was trapped. Sora was going to choke to death and there was nothing he could do.

"WAIT!!! NO, DON'T! STOP!!!!"

The cry was more like a desperate scream, and a second after it came a flash of lightning lit up the smoke clogged sky, a bright blue streak that sliced the darkness like a knife.

The smoke whirled away as if a small hurricane had touched down to blow it into the sky. Rhen shut his eyes as the whirlwind blew around him, but a few seconds later it ended. Now when he looked around he could actually see, or at least see as much as he could at night.

_Sora!_ He ignored the looming circle of heartless and lowering the boy from his shoulder franticly checked for his pulse. He found it, though it was so weak that it could stop in the blink of an eye.

"Don't check out now," Rhen pleaded. "Come on, wake up! Don't you want to find Roren? Wake up, please, please, please!"

"What's that mean…" Sora's voice was a whisper, but it sounded more like a song to Rhen. "Of course…I want to find…Roren. Why would you…ask that?"

Rhen would have hugged the other boy if he hadn't been so weak. Sora groaned, and clenching his teeth he pushed himself up onto his elbows. He caught his breath when he saw the ring of heartless, which set him off on a fit of coughing.

When he could finally speak again, Sora said, "Where did they all come from?"

"I don't know," Rhen shook his head. "And I don't know where Riku and Kari are ether."

From behind them the haggard voice of Malhock called out. They turned and saw the nobody crouching atop one of the heartless, his clothing scorched and torn. He looked absolutely ragged. Beside him stood Liha; she looked a little less torn up, but still on edge. There was no sign of Mehla.

"Rhen," Malhock breathed. "There you are."

Rhen glared back, his face full of imitated fury. "Get out of here, Malhock! I'll fight you all off 'til my last breath if I have to, and you know I'll do some damage along the way—"

"Stop…"the nobody waved his hand weakly. "Just…stop. We're done fighting. Just call off that crazy monster you've got back there, please."

"What monster?"

Malhock opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly his eyes went wide with fear. He stared like a frightened rabbit at the heartless on the other side of the ring, and Rhen curiously followed his gaze. He saw Riku and Kari standing on the branches of the trees above the creatures, Riku with his dark blade in his hand, still shimmering with bright sparks. Though he was relieved to see his friends, Rhen didn't understand what had scared Malhock so badly.

"Stay over there!" Malhock commanded. His voice cracked, and Riku grinned at him.

"You're scared of Riku?" Rhen wondered. "But he's not a monster…"

Sora turned his face away from his tall friend, his eyes watering from the smoke. "It's the darkness. He said he wouldn't use it anymore…but…" his eyes closed and he lay back on the ground, too exhausted to hold himself up anymore.

Rhen grabbed his shoulder, concern melting the lines of rage on his face. "Sora, hang in there. I'll get you water okay? Just breathe, this air's clear, so go ahead and breathe, okay?"

"Hey Rhen," Malhock growled. Rhen slowly looked up at him, his hand still clasping Sora's arm. "I think we need to make a deal. 'Cus at this rate we've all got something to lose, you know what I mean?"

"No, I don't."

Malhock nodded, some of his normal smugness pulling at his features. "You're friend needs help, too much of Drhi's smoke will kill anybody, I'll tell ya. But there aren't any towns or villages in this world. The only place you're gonna find the help you need is at the castle."

Rhen licked his lips. They tasted like soot. "So what?"

"So…Maybe I'll let you go there. You'll never find it on your own, but Liha can show you the way."

Rhen wasn't sure where the nobody was going with this, so he asked for more of an explanation. Malhock shrugged. "I was supposed to kill you, but instead I've lost Drhi and Mehla to that maniac over there, and I don't plan on risking my neck any more. But if Solhis finds out that I failed, well, that's just as bad. I'm dead either way."

"So here's my proposal. See if you like it; I tell Liha here to take your friend to get some help at the castle. She's real trustworthy, but even if you don't like her I afraid you haven't got much of a choice if you want pretty boy to keep breathing."

"No!" Rhen barked. "I can't trust any of you. We can help Sora just fine without you butting in, so get lost before Riku decides that he wants to go a second round!"

"Listed kid," Malhock was getting annoyed, and as he took a step forward the heartless he rode on moved up too. Rhen didn't flinch away from the monster's huge fangs, though the creature did make him nervous. "Your friend there has been poisoned, get it? If you want him to live, you're gonna _have_ to trust us!"

Rhen jerked his head back and forth. "No way!"

"Then maybe you would trust Halvi more?" Liha cut in. Rhen glanced at her suspiciously, wondering how in the world the sneering nobody knew about his friend.

"Halvi?"

The woman nodded, strands of black hair waving in front of her face. "You can trust Sora's life to her, can't you? Malhock has authority to tell the heartless where to go, and if he rides one of the wolves, Sora can be at Halvi's cabin in a few hours. It'll be tight, but he'll probably make it. If you're unsure, you can send one of your friends along with him, just to be sure that he arrives in one piece."

Rhen looked down at Sora. The boy's face was sickly pale, but he watched Rhen through half-open eyes. "I…I don't know…" Rhen whispered.

Determined, Liha decided to sweeten her offer even more. "What if I promised to take your other friend to Roren? What would you say then?"

_Of course you had to throw that in._ Rhen felt like screaming, but he kept his lips pressed close together until he calmed down enough to speak. "You made me that exact same promise, and then you tried to kill me."

"Well," Liha shrugged. "You'll just have to take that risk won't you? If you send Riku with me, you can bet that no one will challenge him after what he's just done. So what's your answer? Does that sound good?"

Rhen's hands were cold, and he didn't bother to tell himself that he wasn't supposed to feel it if they were warm or not. He gazed at Sora, only because he didn't want to look at anyone else. He was afraid to see how Riku and Kari would react to his decision, so he kept his head down so that they could not see his face. Would they be angry, or just stunned? Maybe they wouldn't care at all, and that's what bothered Rhen most.

_It doesn't matter,_ he scolded himself. _I decided already that I would be doing this alone. I can't expect anything from them now, after all I've said. _

He took a deep breath, even though he didn't really need it. "Alright, so what do you want from me?"

Malhock answered, "We don't want anything _from _you. What we want _is_ you."

_Makes sense. _"Okay."

To Rhen's great relief, his friends did try to argue against him, but even so he ignored their protests. He reminded Riku and Kari that both Sora and Roren's lives were at stake now.

"I'll do my best to finish this," he told them, "but you two have to make sure that everyone gets home safely."

While Malhock and Liha descended from the heartless beast, Rhen asked Kari to take Sora to Halvi's cabin and gave her directions on how to get there. He then turned to Riku and told him to take Roren to the little house in the woods too, once he was found.

"You can't go with them, Rhen," Riku said, his eyes locked on the other boy's face. "You know what they'll do. They already said that they were sent here to kill you."

"I don't really see another way around this," Rhen sighed. "I'm not giving up yet, you know. I'm dead set on doing something with my life besides hiding in the bushes."

Riku didn't acknowledge this attempt at humor, and his gaze only grew sadder. He stood aside while Malhock tied Rhen's hands with rope, and he continued to stare as the bonds were tightened.

"Alright then," Malhock said, patting Rhen's shoulder and grinning. "Let's get going. Solhis may be a little kinder to me if I bring you for him to beat on in my place."

Rhen kept his eyes ahead, finding it surprisingly easy to be calm despite his situation. He felt a tug on his elbow as he was pulled away, and he thought to wave to his friends before he lost sight of them.

"So long," he murmured. _Tell Halvi I'm sorry. _

Rhen watched Kari and Riku for as long as he could, but soon enough they were blocked by the bodies of dozens of heartless. Rhen couldn't help feeling a pang of sadness as he turned away. Some part of him already knew that he would never see his friends again.


	15. Blisters on His Feet

**This is the longest chapter I've ever written, but that's only because this is the end of the story. I can hardly believe it. I did it I made it I wrote an entire fan fiction! WHOOO! But I know that I couldn't have done it all alone, so...**

**Thank you Aubrey, for telling me about in the first place. And thanks for listening to me prattle on about characters that mean nothing to you.**

**Thanks to the creators of the Kingdom Hearts games, for making up the stories and characters that inspired me.**

**And a big thanks goes to the fans. I seriously finnished this becuase of you all. I know they're only about 7 of you, but your dedication is amazing. I'm not even kidding you, one or two of you guys are reading this the day I post it... like the minute I post it. And then there's this one person who went through and read the entire NH II story on one sunny Saturday. I almost swore out loud when I saw my story traffic for that day. Come on! That's like 64,000 words! It was such a compliment. I would love to thank you all personaly, so if you can, please send me a message.**

**AND PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! I had a dream where I had a review on this story, and when I woke up I started to cry because I realized that it wasn't true. I'm serious. Review, and if you liked it (which you might have because you made it to chapter 14) tell a friend! I know there are mistakes, impovements to make, but I won't do it unless I get some feedback! Well, I might anyway...**

**But, that's all for now. Enjoy the 8,000 words that conclude the story. Hey, if I get a few comments, I might even add the epilogue that I promised. Or I might just be a promise-breaker. **

**Also, check my profile for one final picture dedicated to the Noble Heart. I've been working on a little something...**

**Maybe see ya soon!**

**

* * *

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14

**Blisters on His Feet**

Sora was sleeping, or so Kari hoped. The way he leaned on her shoulder was so familiar, an in a way it was sadly painful to remember where she had been in this position before. Running, clinging to every crucial second while the heart behind her slowed; how often had she been here?

This girl, Halvi…who was she that Rhen could trust her so greatly? Kari's mind was far too tired to think about it for too long. She focused on the endless plain before her, watching anxiously for the bridge where the path to Halvi's cabin connected to the western road. Her eyes burned, and her head repeatedly dipped down from weariness. Just a little farther, a little more, only a little, and then rest. Somehow she kept her head up a few minutes more.

"Kari…"

Sora's voice would have startled her, but she found she was not surprised that he was awake. The heartless that carried them ran with an awkward cadence, and besides that the sun was blisteringly hot. These were not exactly comfortable traveling conditions, but at least they didn't have to walk.

"What is it?" She asked gently, not turning around.

He took a second to recall what he had wanted to know. His thoughts were sluggish, jumbled and just weak, weak, weak. "Where are we going?"

"To Halvi'," she answered. "Rhen said that she can help you. I hope he's right…"

"Rhen…" For a few moments all he did was breathe, but then his soft voice sighed, "What is he going to do?"

The tone of the question was so distant, so forlorn that Kari knew it wasn't meant for her to answer. She also knew that she wouldn't have an answer even if it had. Rhen was dead; it was only a matter of how long it took for someone to actually do the deed. The only hope for him was if he could dispatch Malhock before he was taken to the castle, before he met with Solhis again, but even that was a stretch. Rhen could only fight well if he held the white shield and sword, and he had been stripped of those when his hands were bound. Even if he had them, taking on an opponent as skillful as Malhock in such an exhausted state would be…well, hopeless.

Kari didn't say any of this, didn't say anything, just kept riding. Just kept her head up, though at the time it was the most difficult fight of all.

* * *

Malhock was made of darkness too, made of the same black substance that filled Rhen's form. It showed in little patches on his knuckles, where impact to Rhen's face and stomach had torn away most of the skin. It wasn't much to look at, but for whatever reason it made Rhen a little happy to know that he wasn't the only one who was stuffed like a child's doll.

"Don't you feel anything?" Malhock panted. "How can you just sit there like it doesn't hurt at all?!"

"I'll tell you what," Rhen said, pushing himself up onto his elbows, "getting up over and over isn't easy. But you can hit me all you want, it doesn't matter."

The nobody spat to the side and rubbed his hands. "Let me try again. There's no way you won't feel it this time."

"Come on, this is getting old." Rhen jerked his feet underneath him and stood up, swaying like a tree in the wind.

Malhock ignored him. As soon as the other boy was standing he wound back then drove his fist forward with the entire force of his body. Rhen took the punch full in the face. He was knocked back a few feet before he landed on his back in the dirt, his legs splayed like a star, his bound hands over his head.

"How about that?"

Rhen lay still for as long as he thought he could get away with it, but then he shook his head. Malhock turned away in rage and stomped for a few steps. Rhen didn't get up, rejoicing in the chance to be still for once.

Even though he couldn't feel the pain from Malhock's beating, that didn't mean he wasn't feeling at all. Tired, exhausted, done in, filthy, the words went on and on. All those things, yes, but most of all he was just lonely. His heart, if he had one, would be aching for a patch to cover the holes that had been torn in it.

He sighed and lay his hands on his chest. "Aren't we going to the castle soon?"

No answer. Not even a grunt.

Rhen's scrunched his eyes and looked out through his eyelashes. The only thing he heard was the fake chirping of fake birds in the fake trees and nothing else. He sat up.

Mehla was watching him from a few yards away, her eyes fixed securely and her face blank. Rhen felt his own eyes widen; she was some kind of busted up. The tall nobody's arms, face, and legs were smothered in burns and gashes, though there was no blood, of course. Just darkness underneath her skin. She had probably sustained more injuries than Rhen had, and yet here she was, still standing. Looking at him, watching him, expecting something…

Rhen shut his mouth, which had been hanging open, and waited.

Mehla breathed out through her nose. "Stand up," she rasped and shuffled to his side. She stuck her hand under Rhen's arm and pulled up. He was on his feet before he knew it, though Mehla did most of the lifting; she was stronger than she looked.

"What happened to Mal-" Rhen began, but then he spotted the nobody leaning against a tree, apparently knocked out. Rhen's eyebrows rose as he looked at the other boy's sagging shoulders and unnatural slouch. He hadn't even heard Mehla attack.

Once they were far enough away, Mehla snatched a small knife from her belt and sawed the rope that squeezed Rhen's wrists together. His hands fell to his sides the moment they were free, his arms so weak they could not be raised, and shaking when he tried. Mehla lifted them up in her own hands and her mouth tightened into a thin line.

"Call your weapons," she said after a while. Her words slurred oddly, as if her lips were too slow for her voice.

"What?"

Her eyes snapped at him. "Close your eyes and call your sword and shield back to you. You're going to need them."

The command in her gaze was so strong that Rhen dared not to argue, even if he had no idea how to summon his weapons. He shut his eyes and decided to give it a try, and when nothing happened then maybe Mehla would explain more, and—

His left arm suddenly became heavy, like a cinder block had just been dropped into his palm. Rhen saw that it was only his shield, the small white sword stuck into the hidden sheath, there on his arm. He wasn't sure if he was happy to have the tools back or not. There wasn't much time to wonder, because Mehla was already moving away, rushing out of sight toward the western sky.

For the first time Rhen noticed how she dragged her feet, how broken her stride was, and how many dozens of cuts and gashes appeared on her body.

_So Riku did all that?_ He thought as he followed. _Malhock called him a monster. I didn't believe him but…he did that to Mehla, and didn't Malhcok say that Drhi had been "lost" too?…._Rhen shivered and an image of Riku grinning down from the branches of a tree lit in his mind.

The picture made him queasy, and he pushed it away. He wasn't sure what he wanted to think about in its place, since even the happiest thoughts were infected with doubt or worry or sadness. So he just watched Mehla walk, though he knew it was probably rude for him to stare.

They didn't seem to have any direction to their course, and Rhen began to wonder if Mehla were just leading him around for no reason at all. Maybe her mind had been just as damaged as her body…

But then she stopped and held up her hand. "Here's good enough," she said. Rhen didn't know what she meant by this, and he stood by observing as she fished around in her shoulder bag. The bag was pretty torn up too, barely able to hold itself to her shoulder, let alone hold anything inside.

Rhen hoped that whatever Mehla was looking for hadn't fallen out while they were walking.

Her face lifted up and her hand returned from its journey through the ripped up pack. A small square compact rested between her fingers, simple and yet obviously important. She fiddled with a few buttons, and then raised the device to eye level before her face.

"Stupid portals take so stinking long to work…" she complained under her breath. "Stupid Solhis thinks he's so creative…"

A red beam flickered from a tiny lens on the front of the compact, and then became a solid line pointing straight out toward the horizon. Except that it didn't travel very far; it stopped, or was blocked, only a few feet from where Mehla was standing, as if some invisible wall stood in the way.

A moment later Rhen discovered just how right he was, for a small oval of red light appeared around the point where the beam stopped. It spread out, like ripples around a puddle, until it was taller and wider than both Rhen and his damaged guide.

"The portal will take us into the castle," Mehla explained. "Once we're inside I'll take you to the Inner-Chamber where Roren is. We'll have to be quick, and absolutely quiet. I have no idea where Solhis is, and if he finds us…well, that'll be the end of the rescue mission."

All at once she paused and looked over to Rhen. She searched his face, but he didn't give her anything to see. She looked away, turning to the portal. "Liha will meet us there, with Riku. Once you…when it's over they'll make sure that Roren gets home safely."

After a few deep breaths she began to walk forward, and Rhen stepped up behind her. Just before entering the portal she reached back and her hand flattened against Rhen's chest. He stopped, curious, wondering what she wanted to say.

But she didn't say anything. Instead her hand slipped down and wrapped around Rhen's. She squeezed it and he let her; he couldn't feel it anyway.

He nodded once, she nodded back, and then they both stepped through the portal and disappeared.

* * *

The hall leading to the Inner-Chamber was unchanged, though Liha thought that it must have been darker now than the last time she had been through it. Maybe it was just that Riku was still glaring at her back even as she led him toward the far door, staring with his blazing eyes full of menace. Liha searched his mind even now, but all her probing found was a wall of determination and barely withheld rage.

And there was darkness mixed in there too, she could feel that strongest of all.

"How much farther is it?" Riku demanded.

"Not far," Liha breathed. "Stay quiet, we don't want Solhis to hear us."

Riku twitched his nose absently. "What's with this Solhis guy anyway? Is he really all that powerful?"

Liha shrugged, but she had to admit that, yes, he was. "We all live in fear of him, because we know that it would be no challenge for him to destroy any one of us. It wouldn't be hard for him to destroy all of us for that matter."

"Yeah…he doesn't seem like a very admirable leader," Riku muttered. He thought back to his encounter with the nobody, remembering how easily they had all been batted away like flies when they tried to attack him. He was strong, but judging by the way he treated his own allies, he was also cruel.

"We don't have it so bad, you know," Liha put in. She had been reading his mind…again. Riku bit his tongue and sent out angry thoughts to her. She acted as if she didn't notice them and went on, "he doesn't hurt us, he just makes sure that we understand what he can do if he wants to."

"But, you are right about him being cruel. You saw what he did to Rhen, didn't you?" She shook her head. "That poor boy has been on the wrong end of Solhis's cruelty for longer than any of us. He and Roren both have."

Liha felt Riku's anger swell when she said this, and oddly enough, it was comforting. At least Roren had friends that really cared about him. Maybe this would work out after all.

"Is that it?" Riku asked as the door emerged through the dark.

Liha didn't think she had to answer, but once she stood before the door she stopped. Riku looked at her, at her wide eyes and felt the cold touch of panic in his bones.

He leapt to the door and tore it open, seeing nothing but darkness on the other side. Darkness, and the overwhelming weight of wickedness that pulsed in the air, like blood in the veins of the blackest, most evil monster he had ever faced.

Oh, it took him back.

_

* * *

_

Run, Run, RUN!

Rhen couldn't remember the last time he had run for so long without stopping. Mehla still held his hand, though she didn't have to pull him very much; he was keeping up just fine.

_So close, we're so close._ The words repeated in his mind over and over, and he didn't want them to stop. _Close, close, so close._

When he had first entered the castle, Rhen had been so shocked that all he could do was stand and stare. They had emerged from the portal into a large open room, which Mehla explained was one of four illusion rooms that Solhis had created.

Apparently the entire time that Rhen and the others had been wandering around looking for the castle, they had actually been walking in circles from one illusion room to the next. Granted, the rooms were enormous, but according to Mehla, Rhen had been stuck in the endless loop ever since he stepped into the black pool. They had been in the castle the whole time, but it was due to Solhis's illusions that they had never known it.

It was soon after that when Mehla had started running. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, though the path she took seemed completely convoluted to Rhen. The catsle was bigger than any building he could have imagined, and all the walls were the exact same dark, sparkling blue color. There were no windows, supposedly because there was nothing to look out on, but there were certainly enough paintings. Animals, mountains, forests…all of Solhis's artwork depicted the natural world, or soldiers in strange armor.

After a while Rhen tired of gazing at all the magnificent paintings, and focused on keeping pace with Mehla's stumbling gait. Finally they entered a long hallway where the walls were all completely blank. Mehla looked down at the tiles on the floor and counted twelve squares ahead.

At the last square she looked up to the wall and let go of Rhen's hand. She slid her hands along it, measuring the required distance with the width of her palm. She found the spot she was looking for and pressed on it, while at the same time kicking a diamond carving on the base board. The wall flashed once, and suddenly a small door stood out before them.

Mehla didn't give Rhen a second to marvel at the hidden entrance, but swung the door open and pushed him inside. They stepped into a long, dark hallway, and here she took up his hand once more and returned to running.

Rhen could feel pressure building in his chest the deeper into the hall they ran. It wasn't exactly painful, but it bothered him. It felt like someone was shoveling something thick and cold into his core, but he couldn't decide exactly what the sensation meant. He realized then just how many things he was unsure of.

The hall seemed to go on and on, but just when he thought they would never reach the end, the dim light revealed a second door. At last Mehla slowed and stopped before it.

She looked around. "Where are they?"

Rhen frowned and turned his head back and forth. "Who?"

"Liha, and Riku…" She whispered. "They were supposed to meet us here."

"Maybe they're just slow," Rhen joked, but even he couldn't find any mirth in the words. He looked at Mehla's eyes and knew that something bad had happened. She stared down the dark hall way, as if she expected the other two to come walking up any second.

But they did not come, and Rhen was no longer interested in waiting. "Is the Inner-Chamber behind this door?"

Mehla blinked. "Yes. You'll find him in there, toward the right side, sitting in a chair."

"Alright then," he murmured. "Are you comming?"

She shook her head. No. "I'll wait outside in case anyone comes. As much as I would like to see this moment, someone has to guard the door."

"Alright," Rhen said again, softer this time, more deflated. Mehla smiled at him.

"Rhen, I hope you know how important this is," she said. "You know what it means for so many people. You know…that it was your choice all along, and it still is."

"Oh, trust me," he laughed. "I've always known."

One more time, the tall woman smiled, and then she put her back to him and watched the hall. With no words left between the two, they parted in silence.

Rhen opened the door and slipped inside. The last thing Mehla heard was the click as it closed behind him, and she prayed that when it opened again, it would be Roren on the other side.

* * *

The Inner-Chamber was even darker than the hall, in fact it was almost pitch black inside the monstrous room. Rhen waited quietly while his eyes adjusted, then began to search the darkness for the chair that Mehla had told him about.

_To the right side…In the white chair, he'll be there. Roren will be there. _Roren _will…_

Despite his attempts to be stealthy and quiet, Rhen actually made a great amount of noise as he clambered around the lightless chamber. There were numerous tall, cold, rock…things that he kept bumping into, and every time he did a squeak or grunt of fright would escape his lips.

The odd, uncomfortable feeling in his chest was even greater now, but Rhen forced his thoughts away from it and concentrated on finding the chair. He was so close to his goal that it no longer seemed real to him, but then again what was real to the shadow of a shadow anyway?

Feeling completely lost, Rhen stopped where he was and sighed. Then the stillness of the room was torn as a voice, harsh and baleful cut through the quiet and struck him like a flying arrow.

"Lost in the dark, are you?" Solhis's voice spoke mockingly. "Funny, I thought you would have been used to that by now."

Torches flared to life along the walls, and suddenly the entire Inner-Chamber was illuminated by the bouncing flames. Rhen squinted against the light, and saw that he was close to the middle of the room, saw the many mighty statues, the painting on the wall and…the chair.

He was nearer to it than he had realized, and from where he stood he could just see the front where a short set of stairs led up to the foot of the dais. Solhis himself reclined in the stone seat, smiling almost sleepily, but he was not alone. No, he was definitely _not_ alone.

Another boy was in the chair with him, though he was spread across the Nobody's lap more than he was sitting. He had dark brown hair and lightly tanned skin, dirt under his fingernails and a small curved scar below his right eye. Travelers boots, a knee brace, closed eyes and a body so limp that it could have belonged to a corpse.

_Roren,_ Rhen stared, and the moment the name and the face connected the pressure in his chest exploded. His hands and knees started to shake, and his eyes watered, and out of his mouth came a joyful, airily laugh that stole the smile right off of Solhis's face.

"What have you got to be laughing about?" he snarled.

Rhen knew he was dancing into very dangerous territory already, but there was nothing he could do to subdue the beaming expression he wore. Who cared if he wasn't supposed to feel emotions? Whoever said that should see him now, should look at the delight in his eyes and wonder how it could be. Rhen didn't know, but there it was. Pure, unending joy. It was like Solhis wasn't even in the room.

The nobody cut his eyes as waves of hatred stiffened his body. "You laugh, you stupid, useless speck! But you can never possess the sheer power that I own, the power that rests in my arms now. Stand there and grin, but I sit on the throne, and here I hold the authority!"

Solhis moved his right hand and lay it on Roren's chest, over the place his heart would be beating if he were whole. The air snapped as a distinguishable force piled into the space around the chair. The fire on the torches bent toward the seat, reached toward Solhis and his evil gaze, and the very colors in the room seemed to move closer to him.

Rhen knew he could not run, knew that nowhere was safe. So he stood bracing himself, and an instant later the power that had been building burst out like a bomb. Rhen's feet were torn from the carpet and he flew straight back faster than he had ever gone before. The wall was yards away, but he crashed into it a second later, slamming it so hard that the stone cracked and caved in around his body.

He did not fall then, but was held there by the force. It felt as if whatever material made up his body was being electrified, hacked at, scorched, and twisted around all at once. He had never felt pain like this before, nothing could compare to it. Not the falls from the sky, not the crushing weight of the wolf heartless, nothing. It jerked him back and forth, smacking him over and over into the wall, and driving invisible nails into his chest.

The scream was enough to stop a heart, but amazingly it was not Rhen who uttered the tragic cry.

It was Roren's voice that hollered from sheer anguished grief. Rhen had never seen so many tears fall from someone's eyes, and even as his own body shrieked in agony, he could not repress the thought that floated to the front of his mind.

_I saw his eyes, I saw his eyes open…how long has it been?_

Just then he was dropped to the floor. His knees bent the moment he touched down and he toppled over face first. He lay, hugging his suffering body and fighting for every shaking breath. Roren was quiet now, he was still again, his eyes shut once more.

"That is the power of the Noble Heart," Solhis was saying. "At least, that is it's power when put into capable hands."

Rhen shifted his head around so that he could look at the ruthless nobody. Solhis lifted Roren's head and inattentively pet his hair like a master stoking an obedient dog.

"You never could see the potential that lay inside him," he went on, "with The Devastation we could have been so great, but you only wanted to hinder it, throw it away. You and that captain…how could you say that you cared if you only ever held him down?"

Rhen was a little amazed to hear words come out of his mouth. "You only…cared about yourself…Solhis. You wo-…would have killed Roren, if…if you could have.."

The nobody flashed a rotten smile, as if he were truly pleased to hear those words. He looked down at Roren and his fingers tapped on the boy's chest. "Now, Rhen…when did I ever say that I cared about anyone but me? Don't be a fool. The only person I've worked for all this time is myself."

Struggling to move his battered body back into a standing position, Rhen lost the will to respond. He was thankful for the wall behind him to lean on, and soon he was upright, though straining to keep his tired knees locked so that he wouldn't go down another time. He looked at Solhis, a bold challenge calling from his hard eyes.

The nobody only shook his head as if to scold a thick-headed child. Once more he positioned his right hand over Roren's heart, and once more the air began to crackle and fatten with power. Rhen leaned on the wall, willing his feet to move. He took one step forward, and then Solhis released a second wave of energy through the room, this one even stronger and more imposing than the first.

All Rhen could hear was the lamenting wail that sounded from Roren's throat, the sound that rang in his ears and tore at his spirit with greater vigor than any attack Solhis could cast out. A gush of uncontainable passion swam through Rhen's body, and he leapt off the stone headfirst toward the wall of force.

The white shield on his arm seemed to jump up to guard him of its own volition, but Rhen had no qualms about it. Shield and force met, and the wall shattered around the while scale, its power negated and broken cleanly, falling away like a thousand bits of glass.

Rhen's feet didn't stop; he rushed at the chair with all the speed he could push into his limbs, not caring if his legs fell right off his body as long as he got close enough. One step away he dragged the white sword free, the ring of the metal echoing with the shriek that split the room with Roren's voice.

_I know, Roren, I know. I'm sorry. It's your strength we're using. I promise it won't hurt for much longer._

Rhen slashed the air, cutting at Solhis's head. It would hit, it had to. Solhis had nowhere to go…

But he was gone. A blink and he vanished...

The empty chair stopped Rhen in his tracks, and he tripped into the arms of the seat, bashing his shins on the frame. His breath caught with the biting sting, but a second later he forgot about the pain and was taken up again by a wash of happiness.

Roren had been left behind in the chair. He lay haphazardly across the cold stone arms, unresponsive, but no less than a hand's length away. Rhen shivered and nearly sobbed out loud.

He reached out, not really knowing what to expect, not caring, not worrying, only dying for contact. A moment of connection after all this time. One touch and everything would be right again, he would be whole, he would be free. Rhen could _feel _it now. He could feel his own need, the ache, the hope that lay there, the comfort, the happiness that he knew only because a heartbroken soldier had called him friend all those years ago.

_The grandest friend I ever knew_, _that's who I'm saving. He's worth it, he's…_

_Too valuable to lose._

A wet _thunk_ slowed Rhen's mind. In a moment he was back in the Inner-Chamber, seeing the strange statues, the paintings and the torches…and screaming from the cleaving pain that ripped at his upper body.

Solhis wasn't gone, at least not far. He stood behind Rhen, his long serrated blade stuck deep in the other boy's back, so deep that the point had torn through his stomach and stuck out the other side.

It hurt. It really _hurt._ This was not pain that Rhen could disregard, because it was real. It drained him, greedily swallowed his life in slobbering gulps, tearing at him as it whipped through his body, gleefully thrashing him with wild abandon.

His sword fell from his hand. It clanged on the ground and tumbled down the small steps before the chair. Roren's face twitched, Rhen cried louder, and then Solhis withdrew his blade.

The removal of the sword was even worse than when it had first impaled him. It was like the metal had stuck thorns into his soul, and was now tugging it out through the gash in his back. Rhen began to fall. Inside he was breaking into millions and millions of little lost shreds, all contained within a thin and shattered body.

Solhis cut again, his sword slicing a massive gash across Rhen's hip, sending him sideways as he crumpled to the floor. When Rhen hit he was still screaming, unable to bar the terrible sound from launching out of his mouth.

He couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't be…it just couldn't be this way, couldn't end this way. But all the tiny pieces that fluttered around inside settled, and as they came to rest, Rhen felt himself snap and crack, then leak out into the air.

Solhis spat on the lifeless boy's face, hitting him on his eye. Rhen didn't flinch, his eyes stayed open and stared at nothing.

"'Bout time," the nobody growled and flicked his sword disdainfully. He grabbed the motionless body and lifted it before his face. He squeezed the neck in his fist, but got no response. His lips split with a lopsided grin, one part of him thrilled and another dissatisfied.

A presence drew his attention, and he lowered the body to see who now stood in front of him. Worn and ready to drop, the tall silver haired boy faced him with his sword raised and his eyes shocking in their fury.

"Put him down," Riku commanded. When Solhis didn't immediately comply, Riku said again, louder, "I said PUT HIM DOWN!"

The discontented part of Solhis faded away. He tossed Rhen's body to the side like it was no more than a busted toy and tuned all of his attention on this new opponent.

Riku spoke again, his tone smoldering even though his eyes were wet. "Who do you think you are? What right do you have to do that to him?"

"Don't act like you know anything about Rhen, or about me," Solhis muttered. He stepped up and lashed out at the other boy, but Riku slipped out of the way keeping a wide distance between himself and the long sword. He wasn't about to let Solhis catch him off guard again.

Across the room the bloodied indent where Riku had been thrown was displayed. He had walked right into Solhis's trap, with Liha just behind, and by the time Roren had stopped howling Riku lay passed out on the floor. He had awoken in time to see Rhen's brief scuffle, to watch the happy face he bore when looking at his hero twist as the sword passed through him.

_So that's the power of the Noble Heart in capable hands, huh? _He mused scornfully. _The power to torment some innocent boy while sitting in a chair, comfy as can be…_"What I know, Solhis, is that it's time you vanished from this world. And I'll be glad to get rid of you myself!"

They charged together, their swords whipping through the air like flashes of light. Sparks of lightning sizzled on Riku's fingers, and he struck out with more strength than he had in a very long time. Not since he had fought to awaken Sora years before had he struggled this hard.

But how tired he felt, how tired and sad. Rhen was lost, Roren was lost, and what about Sora? Was he gone too? And it was all because of Solhis, wasn't it? That liar, that wicked, horrible thief. Hatred blew around in Riku's mind like a storm and he cut faster, slashed harder, and maybe he was starting to gain the upper hand.

And then Riku hit the nobody's sword just right, smacked it in just the right way so that it jarred Solhis's arm and sent the blade twirling off out of reach. Solhis jerked back from Riku, panting and trembling from fatigue.

Riku crept closer to him, glaring while he charged on final shock that would silence the sharp tongue of the foul man forever. But then, Solhis looked away. His eyes flicked over to the chair, over to where Rhen's body had been thrown aside.

Except that it wasn't a body. It was Rhen; he had one eye open and was too weak to do more than crawl, but he was alive and moving. He dragged his ruined mass over the carpet with one arm, the other a deadweight that trailed behind. He was headed toward the chair, toward Roren's hand that dangled over the armrest.

Riku stared at him and for a moment forgot that Solhis was standing there. While he was distracted the nobody pushed a strong kick into his chest, knocking him onto his back where he had to strain to get up again. In those critical seconds Solhis sprinted to the foot of the chair and found the small white sword that Rhen had dropped.

He grabbed the weapon and turned to the fallen boy at his feet. Riku hollered a desperate warning, but Rhen ignored him, just as he ignored the blade that that Solhis drove onto his back again and again, not pausing, deadset on killing him. Tears swelled in his eyes, his hand shook, but with the last sliver of his strength he stretched out his quaking fingers and touched Roren's hand.

Riku felt a shiver echo through the room, and then he watched as the soiled white sword in the Solhis's grasp cracked as if it had been struck against a stone. White beams of light poured from the fissures, flowed down to wash across Rhen's ragged body, and also surged up and over Solhis's arm. The shield too, broke apart and loosed a heavenly river that swarmed over the carpet and up the walls. The essence lapped under Riku's shoes, passing him by as it encased the whole Inner-Chamber in a glittering white veil.

With the light, tied to it as if held by hand, came a familiar and moving emotion. Riku knew it, remembered it from weeks before, but that was not enough to brace him for the bulge it caused in his heart now. Sorrow stepped out to embrace the room, and the moment it arrived the walls vanished, the painting faded and even the chair by which Roren and Rhen lay was drawn out of sight.

And then the whole, white world jumped and started to move. It rushed forward so quickly that Riku thought he would be bowled over, but he quickly realized that he was not moving at all, but that the glory was swirling around him, as if he stood in the eye of a hurricane where the wind and water were made of light and mourning. Grief and passion, sorrow and love whirled through the empty space and continued to fly even after Riku's eyes burned with tears.

And then slowly the winds calmed, falling from a torrent to a gust and finally to a breeze, and then there was nothing left but a heavy grey mist.

Riku mastered his weeping eyes and turned his head to look around. At first he could discern only grey upon grey, with small spots of soft light floating about like dust, but then he spotted a figure off in the distance and he moved toward it. The closer he drew the more figures he saw, until he could make out four or maybe five individuals. Riku approached them until he saw who they were.

Sora and Kari, and even Halvi were all gathered together in the endless white. Behind them another woman that Riku only hazily recognized sat on the floor, hugging her knees and staring ahead. He tracked her gaze, the same path that the eyes of all his friends followed, and found Rhen leaning against a seemingly invisible wall and quavering against his own weight.

He heard someone choke back a sob, and saw that Halvi was crying and trying to hide behind Sora. She seemed torn, her eyes unwilling to look away from her crippled friend, but her mind unable to withstand the hurt of looking at him.

Everyone seemed to have lost their words, and for a while they all simply stood and looked at Rhen while he struggled to breathe. Finally Riku could take no more, and he cast out the question, "What's going on?"

His voice was unnaturally muffled, but it still cut the silence like a sword, though he really couldn't look at Rhen and think about swords now.

Halvi drew a shuddering breath. "He did it…Rhen made it to Roren, but he wanted to…say goodbye to everyone," she whispered. Her hands wrung together in a madding way, but her face was like plaster in color and vacancy.

_He brought them all here to say goodbye? _Riku wondered, and despite the grey atmosphere he felt a small, glad turn on his lips. _Rhen, you definitely are the sentimental type._

Pressing his lips together, Rhen turned his head and gazed at his small group of friends. When he smiled at them, it was an expression as full of emotion as the wave of light that the Noble Heart released. He was happy to have made it, his eyes said, but he was sorry that it hurt (and not just because of the wounds he bore.) His face made his thoughts clear enough; _thank you…for every word you've said…for everything you've done. I've got to go, but I hope you don't miss me too much. _

"Bye, Rhen," Sora murmured softly. He was fighting tears, but he'd never been very good at it, so they came anyway. For a second, Riku was struck by the idea that Sora was shedding tears over a stranger, someone he had known for a week and no more. Rhen had lived a month, they'd known him for a week. His life had been so short…too short.

But that wasn't really true, Riku thought. Rhen and Roren had been together for years, hadn't they? Maybe they had laughed and joked and talked then. Maybe Rhen had been alive then too. But no longer; now there would be only one. For once in his life, Roren would be alone in his own mind. No Solhis to torment him, but no Rhen to smile and say the just the right words.

_This is gonna hurt…_

Now Rhen lifted his hand and pushed himself up straighter. He waved as he turned away, and they could all hear him call.

"So long. Goodbye."

He began to fade, and with him Sora and the others were pulled away, farther and farther apart. Only Riku stayed where he was, though he began to feel a gentle pressure behind his eyes, telling him that he too needed to leave the vast, empty world. Rhen's farewell hung over the air like a small cloud, and Riku watched the boy for as long as he could…but he was gone after a mere moment.

Lowering his head, Riku began to awaken, until a small, small voice beckoned to him out of the white space. He listened to the last words and raised his eyes, hoping to see Rhen somewhere, speaking to him, but there was only the sound of his fluttering voice.

Resigned, Riku nodded once and began the journey back into the real world.

* * *

When he next opened his eyes, Riku found himself outside, covered by the shade of tall leafy trees and cooled by stone under his back. He smelled something sweet and pleasant on the breeze, and it occurred to him that he had not breathed real, sunlit air since entering the dark pool. He stretched and sat up.

He recognized where he was, but for a second it was disorienting to see it. The ruins, the place where he had fought Malhock and that heartless he called the black dress, were spread out around him. The Blue Footed Mountains loomed off to the side, a lush forest ahead, and a clean blue sky above. And two nobodies sat under the trees across the stone floor.

Riku could hardly believe it when he saw them; Malhock and the tall woman he had seen rocking herself during Rhen's goodbye, rested beneath a large tree only a few yards away. For a long time Riku stared at them, afraid to move lest the motion draw their attention. Malhock's dark eyes flicked up and met with his, but to Riku's surprise there was no spite in the nobody's gaze. A second later Malhock turned his head to the side and restfully shut his eyes, like he expected no trouble at all.

Confused, Riku studied the area more thoroughly, as if would find an answer just lying around nearby. He hadn't really expected it, but an answer was exactly what he found, and it was certainly lying around nearby.

He was the only one of them out in the sun, lounging in the warm light like a happy little gecko. Roren lay on his back, one arm under his head and his feet crossed at the ankles, bobbing franticly as if they wished to dance. He blinked his eyes open and squinted over at Riku, and then a wide, welcoming smile lit up on his face.

"Hey! You're awake!" He said as if it were an important declaration.

"Yeah," Riku answered.

Roren twisted his head so that he faced the sky and sighed, making the most contented sound Riku had ever heard. "The weather sure is nice today," he commented.

Riku wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't tell if Roren was alright or not. Sure he was awake, but could that cheerful expression be a mask over some hideous pain? Was he in denial? Was he just crazy?

Roren began to hum a joyful little tune and watch the birds fly back and forth between the trees. After a short while Riku got up and walked over to him, his shadow falling over the other boy's face. Roren looked at him attentively, expectantly.

Words still failed him, but Riku felt a desperate panic in his chest. Roren's eyes softened, and the panic instantly began to grow fainter.

Roren sighed again. "I never got to see him," he said.

Riku swallowed, seeing right away what Roren meant. "I'm sorry."

"Then tell me," Roren sat up and playfully tilted his head, "was he good-looking? I always thought he should be. I thought about giving him a deep, manly voice, but I didn't want him to be harassed by women all the time, so I went with something softer. I figured charming and loveable would fit him better. I liked him more that way, at least."

"Me too," Riku agreed, and took a seat next to the young soldier. "I liked him that way too."

"Solhis is gone also."

"Yeah."

"Good thing too," Roren stuck out his jaw rebelliously. "He was starting to get on my nerves. I swear! I've never heard someone talk about domination so much in my whole life."

Riku laughed softly, then scrunched up his face in imitation of the nobody's scowl. "Get off my property!" he mocked and they both chuckled.

"You know, it's kind of hard to believe," Roren muttered. "Those two…they were only in my head for as long as I've known them…and I know it's weird to say that I've _known_ them, but…" he smacked his lips in soft frustration before going on, "but they…they were _real_, see? That's the thing. Both of them were real, and not just in my head, but in this world too."

"Pretty hard to believe," Riku replied.

"Yeah, but I like to think about it. They were more than my imagination, and I like to wonder what they did outside…" he shot Riku a knowing glace. "…who they were friends with."

The other boy rolled his eyes, but when he spoke again it was in a more serious tone. "Rhen was a good friend. He was devoted to finding you, too."

Roren gazed distantly at his feet, stretched out before him and glowing in the sun. He shrugged and said, "I didn't make him that way. I didn't make him devoted to anything, not even to me." He laughed. "I only made him a happy guy, because that's all I wanted…to be happy. Just about everything else he made on his own. He decided not to learn to fight, and I was really okay with that. He liked all this new world literature that they had in Rossick City. He learned to sing too, and he was good, though I never thought to give him a voice, see? I started him off, and he built the rest."

Riku raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know he could sing. He never sang when I was around."

"Well," Roren said airily, "I guess he only sang to his _best_ friend. That's me, just by the by…and no, I cannot sing a lick, so don't ask."

"Wouldn't think of it."

It was a few minutes later that Roren began to hum, and despite his previous refusal, he opened his mouth and sang, but quietly and timidly:

"It's easy love,

It's simple love,

So let me show you,

How to dance,

How to laugh,

And someday soon,

We'll be alright,

We'll see the light,

And then love,

We'll dance, dance, dance,

On the road home."

It was easy to ignore the tremors in Roren's voice. The song was melodious, and sweet as the summer breeze. Riku heard a sniffle and gave Roren a moment to wipe his eyes.

"I'm a child," he said weakly. "Singing and crying like a baby."

Riku shook his head. "You just said he was real. He was your friend, and he went through a lot of trouble to find you. You're gonna miss him, right?"

Roren nodded, his face as blank as the sky reflecting in his eyes.

"Then it's okay to cry. And sometimes it's okay to be a child."

A laugh slipped from Roren's mouth and he narrowed his eyes at Riku. "Did he tell you to say that?"

"Maybe."

His smile widened, and with and enthusiastic leap, he jumped to his feet. "Alright, I'm starving. Let's go find some bunnies and roast 'em for dinner. Who's in?"

"I could go for a meal," Riku agreed.

"Okay, but you have to catch them by hand, that's the thing. You gotta give 'em a fair chance, you know." Roren twisted his smile mischievously. "I'll show you how to grab 'em. By their cute little ears, you know? What do you think those things are for anyway?"

The two started to walk toward the mines, and when he looked back Riku saw Malhock and the other woman get up and follow. They didn't seem to mean any harm so he let them alone. Besides, Roren was going on about how he had to fight a cow for a mouthful of milk so that he wouldn't die of thirst once upon a time. Riku hadn't laughed so hard in years.

* * *

**See, from his hands, his head, his feet,**

**Sorrow and love flow mingled down.**

**Did 'er such love and sorrow meet,**

**Or thorns compose so rich a crown?**


End file.
